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The plan to bring the NFL back to Los Angeles could be hitting a substantial roadblock.
After the L.A. City Council approved eight measures in September related to AEG’s proposal to build a stadium in downtown Los Angeles, the plan has potentially several issues that could derail the process.
According to Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, the proposal is “essentially dead” to the NFL due to numerous issues with the plan.
“The numbers just don’t work, no matter how you look at the deal,” a league source told Cole in February. “It’s either too hard for AEG to make money [and pay the debt on the stadium] or too hard for the team. I just can’t see a way for it to work.”
I'm not a Californian, never have been and likely never will be, but the "LA Story" when it comes to the NFL seems to be kinda odd from the start. Since the Rams and Raiders left the Los Angeles market, we've heard countless rumors of teams relocating. We've heard stories of new stadiums being built in Chavez Ravine, City of Industry, Anaheim, Irvine, ect, ect.. We've heard stories of a renovated Coliseum, we've basically been fed a line for years.
In 2000, Los Angeles was all but given a franchise (which turned into the Houston Texans) but the league and city couldn't come to terms on a stadium plan.
I've heard countless reasons from people why Los Angeles shouldn't get another shot at a team, and it mostly stems from people saying that the teams lacked support from fans and the community which I've found to be false.
I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but I believe the Rams averaged about 62,500 fans per game in 1980 when they moved to Anaheim, and I know that between the two, the Rams and Raiders averaged over 98,000 fans (combined) for home games in 1983, and around 93,000 fans (combined) for home games in their final season in Los Angeles in 1994.
93,000 fans for two franchises would lead one to believe that Los Angeles would have no problem selling out a 65,000 seat stadium.
Keep in mind, the Rams were a terrible team in the early 90's and the Raiders weren't too much better, so the team doesn't "have" to win every season.
I think the biggest hurdle to the league moving back to Los Angeles has to do more with AEG wanting to purchase part ownership of a team (at a discounted rate) while still charging the team rent. I don't believe a single owner would be willing to give up part ownership as all teams in the league are making money. Then comes the relocation fee that's estimated at close to $700 million. Who's willing to pay that?
I've heard countless reasons from people why Los Angeles shouldn't get another shot at a team, and it mostly stems from people saying that the teams lacked support from fans and the community which I've found to be false.
It is false. At least as far as the Rams go.
They were a much-loved team with a solid fan base until Georgia Frontier inherited the team after Carroll Rosenbloom died. She made a series of horrible moves that served to alienate the fans. (Most of which I've banished from my mind as one horrible memory.) Fans would stand and boo and swear at her when she walked out onto the field. She was absolutely hated. (She was hated. Never the team or the players.)
And she knew it. So she went for the money and in one big "F You" to the fans she moved the team to St. Louis.
Had Rosenbloom not died and left the team to her the Rams would never have left Southern California.
Had Rosenbloom not died and left the team to her the Rams would never have left Southern California.
I know all of the stories of Rosenbloom and Frontiere, at the time, Rosenbloom and Hugh Culverhouse were close acquaintances and there were a lot of stories in the press about some of the parties they threw in Florida.
Not to name drop, but I've also met and had discussions about various things NFL related with Jack Youngblood (who lives in the Orlando area) and Fred Dryer (who I met involving business with his personal production company.) and neither had particularly nice things to say about Georgia.
I think had the Rams never moved from Los Angeles to Anaheim and allowed an "in" for another team to move to Los Angeles, that the Raiders would have never left Oakland and the Rams would still be in Los Angeles today.
Nothing against St. Louis, but I thought it was a crime to move the Rams away from Los Angeles, but then I also thought it was a crime for the Oilers to leave Houston and the Browns to leave Cleveland, although everything in those circumstances worked themselves out.
Not to name drop, but I've also met and had discussions about various things NFL related with Jack Youngblood (who lives in the Orlando area) and Fred Dryer (who I met involving business with his personal production company.) and neither had particularly nice things to say about Georgia.
Name drop away. (Blood and Freddy were two of my favorite players.)
I have zero problems believing that, BTW. Jerome Bettis went so far as to mention some of the problems with her in his book.
Nothing against St. Louis, but I thought it was a crime to move the Rams away from Los Angeles, but then I also thought it was a crime for the Oilers to leave Houston and the Browns to leave Cleveland, although everything in those circumstances worked themselves out.
i'm not surprised by this, now L.A. wants to host the Summer Olympics in 2024, i bet L.A. will still be without an NFL team by then, and no new modern Football stadium will have been built yet, heck I bet people will be living on the Moon before L.A. gets a team, yes I know that L.A. is the second-largest media-market, metropolitan area, city, region in America, logically that would make good business sense to have an NFL team there, but if the NFL really wanted a team in L.A. that badly, they would have done so many years ago, like a decade ago, but the NFL loves having L.A. vacant of the NFL, because it serves as leverage, as a bargaining-chip, black-mail to get stadium deals done elsewhere by using L.A. has a relocation threat
They were a much-loved team with a solid fan base until Georgia Frontier inherited the team after Carroll Rosenbloom died. She made a series of horrible moves that served to alienate the fans. (Most of which I've banished from my mind as one horrible memory.) Fans would stand and boo and swear at her when she walked out onto the field. She was absolutely hated. (She was hated. Never the team or the players.)
And she knew it. So she went for the money and in one big "F You" to the fans she moved the team to St. Louis.
Had Rosenbloom not died and left the team to her the Rams would never have left Southern California.
Wow, that reminds me of Norm Green and the North Stars. The North Stars always had a faithful fanbase even through the bad years. They were looking at renovating Metropolitan Arena and one of the plans was to incorporate it into the proposed Mall of America. But then it came out that Norm was a pig with his female employees. He was sued for sexual harassment and lost in court. His big FU was taking the North Stars to Texas. Still haunts me how we lost that team. I don't wish that on anyone.
I remember the heydays of the rivalry between the Vikes and Rams in the 70's. Those fans in LA were great, faithful fans. The Vikings broke their hearts many times and a few times just because we had home field advantage and the Rams had to play in our climate.
Wow, that reminds me of Norm Green and the North Stars. The North Stars always had a faithful fanbase even through the bad years. They were looking at renovating Metropolitan Arena and one of the plans was to incorporate it into the proposed Mall of America. But then it came out that Norm was a pig with his female employees. He was sued for sexual harassment and lost in court. His big FU was taking the North Stars to Texas. Still haunts me how we lost that team. I don't wish that on anyone...
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(Blood and Freddy were two of my favorite players.)
