Friendly Friends and Amiable Enemies;
It's Summer, 2004 and NFL teams are opening their training camps. For the tenth consecutive season, the National Football League will be operating without a franchise in the nation's second-largest market, Los Angeles. Just how will we in LA cope with this cultural void? Very simply, the same ways we've always coped since the Raiders and Rams left the area: We'll be at the beach, or taking our families to the zoo, or perhaps having a nice Sunday brunch at a nice restaurant, or better yet, watching the games on TV in the comfort of our dwellings or sports bar, and not being blessed with such NFL "perks" like traffic jams, outrageous ticket prices, Personal Seat Licenses, gouging concessionaires, and other wonderful things I could mention.
When the Rams and Raiders left the area after the 1994 season, there was plenty of outrage. But, you've no doubt heard the term "get over it"? Well, we did. And, we discovered that the world didn't come to an end. The Rams, under the gawdawful ownership of Madame Ram, had long alienated the fans in the area, first by moving to Anaheim, which pretty much everyone now agrees was a huge mistake, then by making some very questionable personnel moves, most notably the Eric Dickerson trade, which some point to as the beginning of the end. Their last home game in Anaheim drew 27,000 in a stadium that at the time seated 70,000. Just 2 nights before, a high school championship game in the same facility drew 31,000. It was no surprise to anyone here that they sought greener pastures. The general attitude seemed to be "good riddance". The fact that St. Louis embraced them immediatly made it even better. St. Louis has some of the world's best sports fans, ask any Cardinal player, and had previously suffered the loss of an NFL team that they didn't deserve. Win or lose, the Rams would be loved there. They certainly weren't even liked here. In fairness to the Rams, John Shaw, Rams President, said on a talk show that if they had known the Raiders were leaving, they would have moved back to the LA Coliseum, which Madame Ram had always wanted to do. But by the time Al Davis pulled up stakes, the St. Louis deal was done.
As for the Raiders, Davis thought he was moving to greener pastures, but that apparently hasn't been the case. He's been in court against the City of Oakland, trying to get out of his lease so that he can move the Raiders back here. He's been quoted as saying that leaving LA was the biggest mistake of his life. He's also been quoted as saying that moving to LA was the biggest mistake of his life. Use your own judgement. He's also sued the league, claiming he has exclusive rights to the LA territory. He's lost round one in court, but is appealing. If he moves back here, will he sue LA, trying to get out of his lease here so that he can go back to Oakland for a third time? Who needs this erraticness? In fairness to Mr. Davis, he never got the luxury suites and remodeled stadium that the folly-ridden Coliseum Commission promised him. It wasn't the first or last time the Coliseum Commission messed things up.
We might have an NFL team now if not for the Coliseum Commission. In the mid-1990's, then Dodger owner Peter O'Malley proposed building a new football stadium in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. The NFL was so impressed at the idea, they not only promised a new team to O'Malley once the stadium construction started, but they promised two teams, the second to be owned by someone the NFL would determine later, probably Casey Wasserman. They also promised LA a regular spot in the Super Bowl hosting rotation. The tentative plan had the NFL ready to pounce on it like a spiraling fumble, but guess who got in the way? You got it. The Coliseum Commission, a 9-man commitee of bureaucrats appointed 3 each by the city, county and state, whined, cajoled, arm-twisted and threatened legal action, and manipulated then-mayor Richard Riordan into supporting their effort to get a team. The whole scenario made both the league and O'Malley say "Forget it!" and abandon the proposal. It also caused O'Malley to sell the Dodgers, it left such a bad taste in his mouth. The Dodger franchise has not been the same since. A later proposal for a new stadium downtown adjacent to Staples Center that also had the NFL guaranteeing a new team was monkey-wrenched by the Coliseum Commission.That is why the NFL now has the Houston Texans rather than the LA Somethingorrathers, thanks to the Coliseum Commission. To this day, the Commission thinks that they're the only suitable site in LA for an NFL team. Oh well, this is a city where Megalomania runs deep.
Some teams have had flirtations with LA: The Seahawks came dangerously close to moving here in '95, until a new stadium deal was reached with Seattle. The Vikings, Colts and Bills briefly flirted with LA to make their present cities jealous. The 49ers have indicated that unless something is done about Candlestick Park, read: replacing it entirely, they'll be looking South. They do have San Francisco's attention on the matter. Don't look for the LA 49ers anytime soon, as in anytime at all. The San Diego Chargers have moved their training camp to the LA area, and their escape clause kicks in next year. However, the City of San Diego, which came within a whisker of losing the Padres twice, somehow managed to lose two NBA teams, and had the NHL run away before serious consideration could begin, does not want the embarrassment of losing another team. Serious negotiations for a new stadium are underway. Ditto for Bill Bidwill and the Arizona Cardinals.
If not for the groveling of the Coliseum Commission, LA would have one, maybe two new teams. If no one had ever groveled, the NFL would have been back in Los Angeles in a New York minute. Let them grovel. The more they grovel, the longer LA goes without. The longer LA goes without, the more peaceful it is around here, and we get the best games on TV. LA is doing just fine without the NFL. The NFL is doing just fine without LA, just as big-time college football is doing just fine without New York City. Without an NFL team here, that's fewer traffic jams in LA, a city world-famous for its traffic jams. Why mess up a good thing? More chips and dip, please.
That's all you get, Yegg