My bad on forgetting Minneapolis with the 4 teams. Especially since I passed through in March and we also stole what is now the most successful franchise in pro sports from you 50 years ago.
That said the L.A. Coliseum Commission (one third controlled by state, county and city each) is one of the most incompetent government bureaucracies to ever come down the pike. Since 1967 they have lost the Lakers, Kings, Rams, UCLA football, Raiders and Clippers as tenants. Last year even USC threatened to leave or try to buy the stadium outright in order to get some renovations done. In the first decade after the NFL departed, any time an NFL stadium was proposed within L.A. city limits, some L.A. politicians would obstruct the plan in order to try to get the NFL back to the Coliseum. Which will never happen given the history with the previous tenants. So if/when the NFL returns to greater L.A. it will be with mostly private financing and outside L.A. city limits.
I knew someone would bring that up. The simple summary is that both sides (SoCal city/county govt's and the NFL) think the other side needs them more. No government entity here (and in the current economy even more so) is going to spend the kind of $ in subsidy that the NFL is used to getting from smaller metro areas chomping at the bit to have a franchise (St. Louis with the Rams being a classic example).how do you explain LA still being without an NFL team all these years?
That said the L.A. Coliseum Commission (one third controlled by state, county and city each) is one of the most incompetent government bureaucracies to ever come down the pike. Since 1967 they have lost the Lakers, Kings, Rams, UCLA football, Raiders and Clippers as tenants. Last year even USC threatened to leave or try to buy the stadium outright in order to get some renovations done. In the first decade after the NFL departed, any time an NFL stadium was proposed within L.A. city limits, some L.A. politicians would obstruct the plan in order to try to get the NFL back to the Coliseum. Which will never happen given the history with the previous tenants. So if/when the NFL returns to greater L.A. it will be with mostly private financing and outside L.A. city limits.