News of the Arroyo
Title: | NFL blase over potential L.A. sites |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2005-03-23 |
Summary: | March 23, 2005 - There's a distinct lack of enthusiasm about the prospects for an NFL franchise in LA and about the various prospective sites. |
Author: | Billy Witz, Staff Writer |
Publication: | Pasadena Star News |
Content: | KAPALUA, Hawaii -- Are you ready for some football? The NFL is preparing for the possibility that in two months it will be able to announce it has chosen a site for its return to Los Angeles. And yet, as with the fan base it is seeking out, many of the league\'s owners seem rather blase about the prospect. It\'s one that is not heralded with trumpets here or sirens in Los Angeles. Returning to the nation\'s second-largest market makes perfect business sense and so the owners are naturally all for it. But who said they had to be excited about the possibilities? Just look at them. There is the Coliseum, which if you listen to the NFL you wonder if the Coliseum Commission is up to its old tricks again, asking for the moon. Then there is Anaheim, which sat on the sidelines until last summer for a reason it wasn\'t invited. And there is Carson, which didn\'t work out when Michael Ovitz was schmoozing over its warts. The only site the league hasn\'t been down this long, tired path with before is the Rose Bowl, which has this little problem of being populated by enough people of means and influence that it isn\'t ready to supplicate itself before the league. To the owners, this is like asking for the dessert tray with a taste for creme brulee only to find out that all that\'s left are Jell-o squares, distinguished only by their color. \"I don\'t sense any enthusiasm for any of these sites\' one team executive said Wednesday, as the league meetings were breaking up. There are other factors here, too. While other business was taken care of in the last four days awarding New York a conditional Super Bowl and some tinkering with the rules the overarching order of the day is getting all 32 owners on the same page in the distribution of local revenues, essential before negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement. Also, there are no term sheets or lease agreements with any of the sites, Carson and the Rose Bowl have yet to complete their environmental impact reports, there has been no discussion of ownership or whether the next team in Los Angeles will arrive in moving vans or via expansion. If the only thing that might excite the owners is the bottom line, there\'s plenty of work to do to get there. \"Right now, I don\'t think we\'re focused as much on (Los Angeles) as on (collective bargaining agreement) issues,\' Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn said. \"Once they get further along on the important issues, they\'ll bring it to the owners. Now, the league is definitely the driver.\' Indeed, it has been the league staff that has tapped alternately on the brake and accelerator in the last two years, ensuring that all the sites arrive at the finish line at roughly the same time. The more alternatives real or imagined the better the deal, or so goes the thinking. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has taken over chairmanship of the L.A. Working Group from Carolina\'s Jerry Richardson. Though it is one of just three committees Tagliabue chairs, he downplayed his role, saying that his lieutenants handle most of the work. When Tagliabue was asked Wednesday if the owners would have enough time to digest all the sites even if there are fewer than four by late May he said bluntly: \"Yes.\' Thus far, the commissioner and his staff have been in the tricky position of cultivating enthusiasm while at the same time managing expectations that seem to shift like trade winds. Pittsburgh owner Dan Rooney, who helped drive the NFL back to Cleveland, expects to see some enthusiasm from his fellow owners in May. He just hopes he sees some in Los Angeles, too. \"I\'d like to see if from everybody, really the public,\' Rooney said. \"Do you want a team? Or is it a few guys (who) want a team and they\'re trying to buy it. I\'m talking about is there going to be fan interest? That\'s what you need to show. Once you get to the point of having a site, regardless of which one it\'s going to be, then I think you can generate that kind of interest.\' In the meantime, few people other than those working on it, the four sites and the NFL staff, appear to think Los Angeles is ready for some football. -- Billy Witz can be contacted at (818) 713-3628 or via e-mail at billy.witz@dailynews.com |
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