NFL Draft: L.A. or Anaheim

21 May 2006 |permalink | email article

A special committee of NFL owners meets today in Denver and will make a presentation to the entire membership tomorrow about returning professional football to the Loa Angeles area for the first time since 1994. The owners are expected to choose one venue from two competing proposals to host a team – either the Los Angeles Coliseum or a parking lot adjacent to Angels Stadium in Anaheim.

The decision could be announced immediately, or delayed until early June when owners and league officials visit both cities to review architectural designs for one $800 million stadium, ready by 2009 for a team, with a second to follow possibly in 2010.

Both cities offer strong economic incentives. Anaheim’s bid is probably the easiest to assemble with the land to be owned by the new NFL franchise. Anaheim, however, has stipulated May 30 as the deadline for any deal.

Los Angeles is offering $25 million in infrastructure improvements around the Coliseum, which eventually could amount to $250 million in redevelopment funds.

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is a strong supporter, as is Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor has been more low key so as not to offend Orange County conservatives while on record as lobbying for a two-team package now.

L.A. may have an edge because three new members of the special committee have, or have had, ties to the city: the Giants’ Steve Tisch, the Eagles’ Jeffrey Lurie and Dallas’ Jerry Jones. It’s also known other owners are anxious in June to mingle with big-name Hollywood and business folks. A net worth edging on a billion moves luxury suites.

Historical perspective: A possible return to the L.A. might never have been on the NFL’s agenda if the Rams, who played in the Coliseum for 33 years, obtained certain economic adjustments and benefits to insure a permanent stay by the storied franchise.

The team’s then owner, the late Carroll Rosenbloom, wanted a practice field in Exposition Park adjacent to the stadium. But the myopic Coliseum Commission said no.

Rosenbloom had two fatal problems he could not overcome at the Coliseum: 1) the stadium then had a seating capacity of nearly 100,000, the largest of any NFL venue. 2) Former Rams executive Pete Rozelle had become NFL commissioner and installed a “black-out” rule, which meant that short of a sellout there was no local TV coverage.

Rosenbloom once approached Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley about the possibility of moving his team to a far cozier Chavez Ravine. But O’Malley rejected the idea. Rosenbloom died in 1979 but a Rams’move had long been planned and the team moved to Anaheim in 1980 to play in a reconfigured Angels Stadium.

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