OT: The NFL in L.A.

[efin98]

The only reason why there isn't a football team in L.A. is because they still don't have a plan for a new stadium and where to put it. If you remember, this was the sole reason why they didn't receive the expansion franchise in '99. L.A. fans (including myself) and the media really wanted in a team back in '99 but the desire burned out when we realized it wasn't going to happen.

But 11 years later, rumors are starting to float around that an existing franchise may move to L.A.. Like I said in an earlier thread, the best team to move to L.A. would be the Chargers.

They were never getting a team in '99, that was always going to go to Cleveland due to their BS appeasement with the city for the old Browns franchise to flee to Baltimore.

They were supposed to get the '02 expansion team with the new team using a massively renovated LA Coliseum as the home stadium.

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

They were never getting a team in '99, that was always going to go to Cleveland due to their BS appeasement with the city for the old Browns franchise to flee to Baltimore.

That is when Houston was awarded the expansion team, in '99. The NFL and the media wanted L.A. to get the team, but they couldn't figure out where to put the stadium. The Browns had nothing to do with it between L.A. and Houston.

They were supposed to get the '02 expansion team with the new team using a massively renovated LA Coliseum as the home stadium.

They also proposed building a stadium near L.A. (I can't remember where) but it sounded like a massive failure. Flat out, L.A. didn't have their act together.

 

[efin98]

That is when Houston was awarded the expansion team, in '99. The NFL and the media wanted L.A. to get the team, but they couldn't figure out where to put the stadium. The Browns had nothing to do with it between L.A. and Houston.

They also proposed building a stadium near L.A. (I can't remember where) but it sounded like a massive failure. Flat out, L.A. didn't have their act together.

Excuse me for that, I thought you meant the '99 franchise and not the year 1999. Something about the history of the situation there from the Texans' website: Texans Team History - Houston Texans

They got awarded the franchise...yet they had no money for a stadium in place, no deal for a stadium in place, no owner with deep pockets to back any stadium proposal in place- hell they didn't have an owner in place period.

Basically they had a franchise awarded just on the fact that it was LA alone. They had most of the Spring and all Summer to get their act together after the NFL outright gave the team to LA yet there was no actual progress made in getting a stadium nor in getting an owner- so the team was awarded to the city that had a plan, had an owner, had deep pockets, and had the backing from local officials to get a new stadium built- pretty much everything that they didn't have in LA

 

[Triumph]

Not having a team in LA would almost be like not having a team in NYC. Obviously, NYC fans are more devoted, but look at the people with money in LA. The Celtics vs Lakers game last night was full of celebs with deep pockets. Some, just wanting to be seen.

Meanwhile, Jacksonville sold out 1 game last season. Its a college football town and always will be. The Jaguars are not pulling their proverbial CBA weight and it was a mistake to place a team there. Moving the Jags to LA makes a ton of sense and then you have another venue for SB's as well.

 

[DaBruinz]

Not having a team in LA would almost be like not having a team in NYC. Obviously, NYC fans are more devoted, but look at the people with money in LA. The Celtics vs Lakers game last night was full of celebs with deep pockets. Some, just wanting to be seen.

Meanwhile, Jacksonville sold out 1 game last season. Its a college football town and always will be. The Jaguars are not pulling their proverbial CBA weight and it was a mistake to place a team there. Moving the Jags to LA makes a ton of sense and then you have another venue for SB's as well.

There are a few problems with moving Jacksonville to LA. The first has been mentioned. AL DAVIS. The second is what it does to the divisions. Unless you bump KC into the AFC South with Tennessee, Indy, and Houston, and put the LA team into the AFC West. But KC and Denver have a pretty big rivalry. Though, with it's location, I am sure that KC could start a rivalry with Indy or Houston. And that would only work if KC was willing to be bumped..

 

[Rob0729]

Not having a team in LA would almost be like not having a team in NYC. Obviously, NYC fans are more devoted, but look at the people with money in LA. The Celtics vs Lakers game last night was full of celebs with deep pockets. Some, just wanting to be seen.

Meanwhile, Jacksonville sold out 1 game last season. Its a college football town and always will be. The Jaguars are not pulling their proverbial CBA weight and it was a mistake to place a team there. Moving the Jags to LA makes a ton of sense and then you have another venue for SB's as well.

LA has a reputation of being front runners for fans. They are at least perceived to only attend sporting events when their teams are legit. I know that when I lived in Southern California the Rams and Angels rarely sold out (I lived south of LA so I had more exposure to them than the Raiders and Dodgers).

 

[TrueBeliever]

Not having a team in LA would almost be like not having a team in NYC. Obviously, NYC fans are more devoted, but look at the people with money in LA. The Celtics vs Lakers game last night was full of celebs with deep pockets. Some, just wanting to be seen.

Meanwhile, Jacksonville sold out 1 game last season. Its a college football town and always will be. The Jaguars are not pulling their proverbial CBA weight and it was a mistake to place a team there. Moving the Jags to LA makes a ton of sense and then you have another venue for SB's as well.

1) See that's the thing I don't get. Obviously the Rams and Raiders weren't selling enough tickets to keep going in the L.A. market. But except for the Lakers, are any of the other L.A. teams perennial contenders? The Angels have won the World Series once or twice in the last decade as I recall, but I can't remember the last time the Dodgers even got to one. Ten years ago, the Clippers were named by Sports Illustrated as the overall worst franchise in all of pro sports. The Kings, I have no idea about them. But all these teams sell enough tickets every year even though they have way more home games than an NFL team does. Is it just not a football town?

2) You're darn right, putting a team in Jacksonville was a mistake, and you can thank Paul Taglia-bozo for it. From what I've read, when the league decided to expand in the late '80s/early '90s, a lot of people thought the new teams would be put in St. Louis and Baltimore, cities with proven track records of supporting NFL teams. But "Tags" decided that going to markets the league had already been in "wasn't really expanding", so he pushed to put the new teams in Carolina and Jacksonville, even though in the latter case they had to keep pushing back the deadline for stadium deals, etc., because that city couldn't get the deal done. Meanwhile Baltimore is sitting there with their ridiculously lucrative offer, which ultimately went to Art Modell.

 

[Rob0729]

1) See that's the thing I don't get. Obviously the Rams and Raiders weren't selling enough tickets to keep going in the L.A. market. But except for the Lakers, are any of the other L.A. teams perennial contenders? The Angels have won the World Series once or twice in the last decade as I recall, but I can't remember the last time the Dodgers even got to one. Ten years ago, the Clippers were named by Sports Illustrated as the overall worst franchise in all of pro sports. The Kings, I have no idea about them. But all these teams sell enough tickets every year even though they have way more home games than an NFL team does. Is it just not a football town?

2) You're darn right, putting a team in Jacksonville was a mistake, and you can thank Paul Taglia-bozo for it. From what I've read, when the league decided to expand in the late '80s/early '90s, a lot of people thought the new teams would be put in St. Louis and Baltimore, cities with proven track records of supporting NFL teams. But "Tags" decided that going to markets the league had already been in "wasn't really expanding", so he pushed to put the new teams in Carolina and Jacksonville, even though in the latter case they had to keep pushing back the deadline for stadium deals, etc., because that city couldn't get the deal done. Meanwhile Baltimore is sitting there with their ridiculously lucrative offer, which ultimately went to Art Modell.

In fairness to Tagliabue, Jacksonville was growing at an amazing rate at the end of last decade. Tags plan was to move into growning markets (Jacksonville, Houston) and get a growing base before the city hit maturity. The problem is that Jacksonville never grew to what was expected.

 

[jmt57]

In fairness to Tagliabue, Jacksonville was growing at an amazing rate at the end of last decade. Tags plan was to move into growning markets (Jacksonville, Houston) and get a growing base before the city hit maturity. The problem is that Jacksonville never grew to what was expected.

Yeah, as I recall there was a pretty big population shift at the time out of northern cities and into the south, so the NFL wanted to be ahead of the curve, with expansion teams in Carolina and Jacksonville. The Oilers left for Nashville, leaving Houston open, which I believe was the 4th largest market at the time, so it made sense to put a new team there as well. LA is a much bigger market than any of these other places, so obviously the NFL and the networks would have preferred (and still do prefer) having a team there, but the other factors mentioned previously have prevented that from happening to this point.

 

[LasVegasPatsFan]

LA should and will get a team one day. It is the 2nd largest city in the US (population). Sure they didn't sell out many games but that was over 15 years ago and they were the Raiders. Times have changed and the next generation of football fans will bring more interest to a new team. I remember when the Pats couldn't even give their tickets away, so I don't want to hear about LA fans not interested unless their team is good.

 

[TennesseePatriot]

I'd like the Rams to move back to LA. The Raiders are a good fit for Oakland, dirty franchise, dirty city. The Cardinals should move back to St. Louis. That way they dont have to play in that desert.

 

[TrueBeliever]

I'd like the Rams to move back to LA. The Raiders are a good fit for Oakland, dirty franchise, dirty city. The Cardinals should move back to St. Louis. That way they dont have to play in that desert.

Personally I thought the best solution would have been for the Cardinals to go to L.A. earlier this decade, before they got their new stadium. They had no recent history binding them to AZ (until 2008, of course) and the city/state probably wouldn't have missed them anyway, since so many people there are transplanted fans. (Then again that's been said about L.A.) The team would've got the new stadium they had been waiting over a decade for, and the divisions wouldn't have gotten messed up.

The problem there, of course, is that the team likely would have needed a new name, logo and uniforms, which would have cost money, and the owners wouldn't have wanted to pay for it. (The Bidwills are notoriously tight.)

I wouldn't mind seeing the Rams back in L.A. either. Nothing against St. Louis, but it would be the best current answer since (again) this move wouldn't require any changes to the divisions. If the Jaguars go to L.A. it won't make sense to keep them in the South; but putting them in the West means that division won't be made up entirely of teams from the AFL. That's a big deal to me.

 

[AzPatsFan]

I don't mind you tossing barbs at the Bidwells as they confirm that Gregor Mendelson was correct. Congenital idiocy breeds True, through the generations. Great Granddaddy Bidwell was an idiot; Granddaddy was an Idiot; Daddy was an idiot; and "Mikey" is an Idiot, as well.

But Phoenix is now the 5th largest city in the Land, and pushing the 4th Houston, so both cities merit NFL Teams. The Bidwell's never changed their uniforms ever since they were the Chicago Cardinals, in existence for 27 years prior to the formation of the NFL, in 1920. That was before they were the St Louis Football Cardinals, in 1960.

But they are not the only Team too cheap to change uniforms. The LA Lakers makes no sense. How many lakes are in the California desert?

Unlike the Land of 10,000 lakes from whence they originated as the Minneapolis Lakers. Nor do the LA [Trolley] Dodgers make any sense, since they don't have any trolley cars to dodge in the automobile city. But then, the Utah Jazz is an Oxymoron too.

The only descriptive team name abandoned is still, the Houston Oilers. That fit as well as the Steelers, another apropos name.

 

[captain stone]

My ideal scenario would be:
The Colts return to Baltimore;
the Ravens return to Cleveland and re-name themselves the Browns;
the Browns move to Indy and call themselves the Toothless Hick Sheep-Loving Fanboy Dooshbags;
and the Jaguars (in easily the worst market in football) move to LA.

Realistically, however, Weird Uncle Al will prob. have to die before the last move can happen.
Until then, no soup for you, LA.

 

[Tunescribe]

Jaguars should move to L.A.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Jaguars should move to L.A.

Nope! They move to the largest, unrepresented, and unclaimed, city... San Antonio. Meanwhile Buffalo shuffles off to Toronto. LA is Raiduh' Country!

Plus LALA land deserves da Raiduh's. They are made for each other.