As the Super Bowl (and the Lingerie Bowl, of course) quickly approaches, everyone from the casual fan to the most ardent prognosticator will let their opinion be known as to whether the New York Giants or New England Patriots are the better team. The nations most popular sport will be on the minds of executives, bookmakers and the average Joe alike, but as we obsess about a single Sunday game, the debate rages on about the fate of the second largest media market in the land: Los Angeles.
A blockbuster announcement was made last night regarding the league's possible return to Los Angeles. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated during his State of the League that if Los Angeles gets a team or if the league decides to put a team in LA that he would prefer expanding the league to 34 teams from it's current 32.
During an appearance on Thursday night’s "Costas Live" on the NBC Sports Network, he broached the topic of expansion. Stating that he "doesn't want to move any of our teams.", he said if a suitable stadium is built in the Los Angeles area, "we probably don't want to go to 33" teams by adding just one new club. Instead, the league would consider adding two. Goddell cited scheduling difficulties with keeping the possible expansion to an even number.
The comments cast an even murkier shadow on Los Angeles getting a team. Los Angeles has a few problems that has to be taken care of before the city can celebrate a new NFL franchise. The first of which is what stadium would be built? Will it be AEG's projected Farmers Field or a project to be built by rival real estate developer Ed Roski in the City of
Industry? The City of Industry location has been ready for quite some time and all it needed was the nod and a shovel stuck in the ground. Farmers Field on the other hand needs the EIR Report before anything can go forward, but the process has been fast tracked by the city of Los Angeles.
The prospect of getting a new team is doubly intriguiging since it would ensure that an L.A team isn't saddled with a potential carpetbagger team with a poor record such as Jacksonville, but it also casts doubt on receiving a quality team like the San Diego Chargers, who are currently locked in a battle with the city to finance a new stadium. Moving a team to Los Angeles has long been a bargaining chip for teams wanting to put pressure on a city to pay the bill for a new stadium or stadium renovations.
Goodell did not get into discussing the possibility of either one of the two prospective stadiums becoming home to both of the possible new teams. The only stadium currently hosting two teams is the new NY Giants and NY Jets stadium.
AEG does have the experience handling numerous teams in one building as they do with the Staples Center, home of two NBA teams and an NHL team.
However the league has balked at AEG's model of completely financing the stadium in exchange for ownership in the team. There is currently no specific timetable on the return of NFL in Los Angeles but we are all ready for it when it happens.
Comments