News of the Arroyo
Title: | NFL to weigh all its options in L.A. |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2003-05-22 |
Summary: | May 22, 2003 - New questions and new options are emerging in the discussions about a new NFL franchise in the Los Angeles area. |
Author: | Billy Witz, Staff Writer |
Publication: | Los Angeles Times |
Content: | One day after the NFL said it is committed to return to Los Angeles, a Cleveland Browns representative raised concerns about prospective sites for a stadium. Browns president Carmen Policy said Wednesday he believes Los Angeles, where deal making is an industry, can make a better pitch than a pair of 80-year-old buildings in need of overhauls and a former trash dump site. And he thinks it will. The resolution the NFL passed Tuesday calls for the owners to exercise an option on land in Carson and pursue state-of-the-art stadiums there and in Pasadena. It also allows for other proposals to be considered in the coming months in what appeared to be a nod to the Coliseum. Policy, however, said he was left wondering, \"Is that all there is?\' after hearing the stadium options. \"I think another site beyond those that have been mentioned is going to surface,\' said Policy, one of five owners in the \"L.A. Working Group,\' the committee considering future sites for pro football\'s return to Los Angeles. \"Everybody needs to be creative in this. I have no particular site in mind.\' There have been several other proposals for new stadiums in recent years in the downtown area, Hollywood Park and Chavez Ravine but none has gotten past the Coliseum\'s political clout or issues such as public funding. Some have said a new NFL stadium could be built where Dodger Stadium exists and a new baseball stadium could be constructed downtown if Tampa Bay owner Malcolm Glazer\'s bid to purchase the Dodgers goes through. Glazer declined to comment on his plans Wednesday. For another plan to emerge within the City of Los Angeles, the city council likely would have to reconsider its position put forth in a resolution last week that the Coliseum is its preferred site. \"I would hope there would be an effort to open up the options in the city of Los Angeles,\' Policy said. \"By permitting the Coliseum to be the only option, it hurts rather than helps.\' Bernard Parks Jr., a spokesman for Councilman Bernard Parks Sr., says there\'s a reason the city is getting behind the Coliseum. It wants to avoid the fractured bids of 1999, when three proposals originally vied for an expansion club. \"Nobody is holding anybody hostage,\' Parks Jr. said. \"The reason we went through the trouble of supporting the Coliseum is if you have five or six separate plans, you spent a lot of time arguing and debating, and everybody misses out.\' Policy said the Carson deal was all about keeping the league\'s options open. His main concern with the Rose Bowl is what the NFL was buying with a $500 million renovation. \"Is it a state of the art stadium or a good stadium given the footprint of the Rose Bowl?\' Policy said. \"The quality of the facility is a huge point.\' John Moag, the Baltimore investment banker who has been heading the Rose Bowl\'s proposal for the last 10 months, didn\'t appear to think there was a problem. \"We went through the design process with the league step by step,\' Moag said. \"That was one of the most important parts of the job we\'re facing, the commissioner was very much a part of the process, and the answer we got was yes.\' While the developments at the two-day NFL owners\' meetings, which concluded here Wednesday, have put pro football in L.A. near the top of the NFL\'s agenda and the region\'s consciousness, the coming weeks and months could be dominated less by big splashes than by small waves. \"I think the next step for both groups is to continue the dialogue and move the process along,\' Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said of the Carson and Rose Bowl bids. \"I don\'t have any meetings planned, I don\'t have any flight reservations, we\'re not sending letters out tomorrow, we don\'t have orders of who\'s going to be first. We\'re going to move the process along in a thoughtful way with both communities.\' Rose Bowl officials will wait to hear the NFL\'s response to their 13- point proposal, which was presented to the league at the meetings. Carson, which has not been contacted by the NFL since its announcement Tuesday, must begin work on an environmental impact, report among other things. \"The financial commitment made by the NFL toward the Carson site sends a strong statement about their interest here versus the other sites,\' Carson city manager Jerry Groomes said in a statement. \"An ideal scenario would have two components a clear and secure path that would allow the City to recoup any investment it will make; and the ability to demonstrate that this venture is beneficial and profitable to our community.\' The Coliseum Commission will continue its work on an environmental-impact report, which could be delivered today, and hopes to bring NFL owners to L.A. to visit their site. It was a pitch that Parks, whose district includes the Coliseum, and Coliseum general manager Pat Lynch made in a brief conversation Tuesday night with Tagliabue. Policy said the NFL probably won\'t choose a site for at least a year and perhaps up to two the length of time for the NFL\'s option on the Carson site. The NFL has agreed to put as much as $10 million into the option. \"The decision to go forward felt like the right thing to do,\' Policy said. \"By taking action in Carson, it helped streamline the process and perhaps created a time-line for us and others to form a resolution.\' Billy Witz can be reached at (818) 713-3607. |
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