Why are there 2 proffesional soccer teams in LA but no professional football team? (Anaheim: neighborhoods, buy)

[gwillyfromphilly]

Los Angeles is way to big of a market not to have an NFL team. I mean come on! Its the 2nd largest city in the country and no NFL team. The Los Angeles area would easily rival the NFL's top markets like (New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia) in terms of revenue it would bring to the League. If San Diego can have an NFL team than Los Angeles is more than qualified to have a new NFL team of their own again.

[BluSpark]

Originally Posted by John23

I think it'd be a great long term investment. We're building these ridiculous $200 million Taj mahal schools. Being run by the same people who produce a 50% dropout rate.

The NFL would surely be a much wiser investment.

A. It raises the city on a global scale

B. A football stadium can be used for a lot of things.

C. If downtown LA got a world class stadium, it'd raise downtown to the ranks of other cities.

There are a lot of reasons to add a team here. I think our priorities are mixed up.

The typical NFL stadium holds about 8 games per year. But even Baseball stadiums (with about 80 home games) are way over sold as economic development tools. Plus, teams can and do leave (Raiders/Rams) so that is an additional reason to put no public money into the pot.

As long as no public money goes into it, I am fine with it.

Poor spending decisions by local agencies or school districts do NOT justify splurging on a sports stadium.

[Inter441]

LA is all about Asians , recent Europeans immigrants and Hispanics lol and most of folks here only love Soccer , and Basketball !

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by Inter441

LA is all about Asians , recent Europeans immigrants and Hispanics lol and most of folks here only love Soccer , and Basketball !

Yet, the Galaxy and Chivas USA are half-capacity most games. Pretty much only El Tri (Mexico national team) will reliably get the Hispanic turnout to fill a stadium for anything. And nobody can afford Lakers games, and the Clippers...uh, yeah.

If philthy Phil Anschutz and AEG want to pay for their own stadium next to Staples, let 'em go for it. Brown's budget is about to dismantle Redevelopment anyway, so the potential city (tax) contribution might soon be a moot point. Life was fun in L.A. back in the days of the Rams and Raiders, so enjoy!

[John23]

Originally Posted by Charles

Ya but....

The Rams never (at least I never remember it happening since the early 1970s) sold out the Mammoth Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 72 hours in advance to provide local TV.
The Raiders sold out a couple times for TV.
The Rams sold out more frequently at Anaheim Stadium (67000) but considering 20+ million people in the region it isn't close to what mini markets like Buffalo, Green Bay and Denver draw in proportion.

I think some of it is transportation. If you had a really good, subway/mass transit system (that connected key parts of LA) to downtown (and a football stadium), I dont think sell outs would be that difficult. Better than everyone sitting in bumper to bumper traffic.

The lakers sell out, 18,000 at staples 41 times a year. How would you not be able to sell out 60,000, 8 times a year? And only 1 NFL team, vs 2 nba.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by John23

I think some of it is transportation. If you had a really good, subway/mass transit system (that connected key parts of LA) to downtown (and a football stadium), I dont think sell outs would be that difficult. Better than everyone sitting in bumper to bumper traffic.

The lakers sell out, 18,000 at staples 41 times a year. How would you not be able to sell out 60,000, 8 times a year? And only 1 NFL team, vs 2 nba.

Transportation problems (even in LA) aren't that bad on Sundays. The freeways are relatively open at 9, 10, 11 AM on Sundays when fans would head to the stadiums. Why go through all the hassles of subways?

If the stadium was 60,000 they probably would sell out but the mammoth Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was like 93K and Anaheim (where they did sell out) was 67K.

The Lakers sell out every game because they win and win and win. Also, they are downtown where bankers, lawyers, and other downtown employees are during the week. Out of the office at 6, grab a bite or a few drinks and walk into Staples. They are already there. Half of them probably have free corporate tickets anyway.

[(-)]

nfl only cares about 1 thing, money. as long as the potential host city can prove that they will have enough big name corporate sponsors who will buy up skyboxes, stadium naming rights and season tickets, they will provide a team. it's really that simple. l.a. has proven to be a fair weather sports town. with that said, if they are going to get a team it won't be anywhere near downtown if it isn't supported with tax payer money.

[chispito]

Originally Posted by Charles

Transportation problems (even in LA) aren't that bad on Sundays. The freeways are relatively open at 9, 10, 11 AM on Sundays when fans would head to the stadiums. Why go through all the hassles of subways?

If the stadium was 60,000 they probably would sell out but the mammoth Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was like 93K and Anaheim (where they did sell out) was 67K.

The Lakers sell out every game because they win and win and win. Also, they are downtown where bankers, lawyers, and other downtown employees are during the week. Out of the office at 6, grab a bite or a few drinks and walk into Staples. They are already there. Half of them probably have free corporate tickets anyway.

Not all games are played on Sundays, and there is indeed Sunday morning traffic heading to downtown, which will only get impossibly worse, if a team were playing there. I know because I use the 5N from OC every week.

I actually think it would be awesome if they played in downtown, but transit improvements would be a must. It's painful enough to see a Dodgers, Lakers, or Kings game. LA can't add new metro lines too fast!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by chispito

Not all games are played on Sundays, and there is indeed Sunday morning traffic heading to downtown, which will only get impossibly worse, if a team were playing there. I know because I use the 5N from OC every week.

I actually think it would be awesome if they played in downtown, but transit improvements would be a must. It's painful enough to see a Dodgers, Lakers, or Kings game. LA can't add new metro lines too fast!

The 5N from OC to LA is jammed all the time but there's a bunch of construction going on around there. It is sort of an exception.
Also, most games are played on Sunday, probably like 14 out of 15.

[John23]

Originally Posted by Charles

Transportation problems (even in LA) aren't that bad on Sundays. The freeways are relatively open at 9, 10, 11 AM on Sundays when fans would head to the stadiums. Why go through all the hassles of subways?

If the stadium was 60,000 they probably would sell out but the mammoth Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was like 93K and Anaheim (where they did sell out) was 67K.

The Lakers sell out every game because they win and win and win. Also, they are downtown where bankers, lawyers, and other downtown employees are during the week. Out of the office at 6, grab a bite or a few drinks and walk into Staples. They are already there. Half of them probably have free corporate tickets anyway.

I was thinking that football would have a wider base than basketball (the lakers are pretty exclusive). Potential football fans would be dispersed all over the place. Not necessarily the corporate banker crowd of downtown. But fans in burbank, the valley, pomona, long beach. Traffic coming back on a sunday night wouldn't be very good.