What happened to the NFL inLA?? (Los Angeles, Oakland: home, high school, college)

[tceffo]

I remember when I was living in HuntingtonBeach- in 1978-79- My roomates father was the coach of the LA Rams- -not important at all- -but they were a good team (ok-they had a a wacky owner)- * * * they even went to a S.B
But my question is, why is it back then- LA had and supported aN NFL team and pretty much since then, no-one or no group has even tried??-(or have they?) - Lack of interest? College ball in SoCal would take all the press, ratings??
Its seems that fans support the Dodgers with big attendance numbers- and we know that the Lakers will always sell out. Just wondering in NY??

[Charles]

I think a lot of it has to do with stadiums, building stadiums or renovating stadiums and luring teams to LA.

[7 Wishes]

A lot of it is stadiums I've heard, I'm very surprised they've gone this long without a team, TV money is king in football and this is a TV market bigger than any except NYC. I personally think the Jaguars will move there within the next 2-5 years.

[Charles]

But locals can remember, the Rams rarely sold out the mammoth Los Angeles Memorial Coliesum in time (72 hours) for local TV. The Raiders sold out a couple times. It's not like the majority of NFL stadiums that are sold out every game every year in markets 1/5 the size (Denver, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Buffalo, etc.)

[matt_sfl]

I'm not a huge sports fan, but if I could attend any past sporting event it would be a Raiders game at the Coliseum. I would want to see them at their dirtiest period too. Would that be the Lyle Alzado era? I found out George Carlin was a Raiders fan too, he liked to see late hits like I do. Hunter Thompson was a fan too. Seems like the smart people gravitate to that team.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by matt_sfl

I'm not a huge sports fan, but if I could attend any past sporting event it would be a Raiders game at the Coliseum. I would want to see them at their dirtiest period too. Would that be the Lyle Alzado era? I found out George Carlin was a Raiders fan too, he liked to see late hits like I do. Hunter Thompson was a fan too. Seems like the smart people gravitate to that team.

I went to several Raiders games at the Coliseum. A lot of rough looking characters there. LAPD was everywhere and it was still a little unsettled.

[tceffo]

HST- We know he had some business up in Oakland back in the day. Carlin, well it just seems he would go for the old Raiders and a radical boss like Davis. Even back here in ny/nj we have our share of Raider fans- seems like there were more years ago though.
I say> get an NFL team in that town somehow- -just cant put 60,000 in a 100,000 seat staduim - looks empty on TV. -& that won,t fly with the bigshots that run the NFL.
btw- I heard that Oakland PD is all over the place at the stadium in Oakland. Much like Philly uses the PD instead of some security company- they even have holding cells in there. Not an Eagle fan ,but speaking of characters- they beat up a guy dressed like Santa & threw his fake beard off the upper deck.

[CamaroGuy]

There is simply not enough interest for NFL football in Los Angeles anymore. Its been 16 years since we had football here and for the most part people are resigned to the fact that the NFL isn't coming back here.

[Mike121]

Yeah, there are two separate topics.

The reason the NFL and owners won't build a team here is that the NFL demands that we build a new stadium and that the local government plow a bunch of money and some huge tax breaks. Even in LA wanted to do it, it can't afford it.

As far as the fans go, you've got to remember that the Rams and Raiders both left in '94. That was 16 years ago. No kid in high school now in So Cal remembers having a team here, so that's already 25% of the population that has no connection to local football. Add to that, in LA county, of the 12million people here, 3.5 mil were born in another country that probably doesn't play football and another 1.5 mil are American-born people from another state that are probably rooting for their home team.

So any team that moves here is going to have a lot of work to do to make fans.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Mike121

in LA county, of the 12million people here, 3.5 mil were born in another country that probably doesn't play football and another 1.5 mil are American-born people from another state that are probably rooting for their home team.

That's a good point. Whenever a new york or boston team plays at the dodgers, angels, ducks, kings, or clippers it's almost as if there are more of them than Californians.