Why L.A. Still Does Not Have an NFL Team

My Bleacher Report colleague, John Fennelly, recently wrote an NFL-L_A_In_Limbo_NFL_Conspicuously_Absent_In_Nation_s_Second-Largest_City-230108">article about the NFL being conspicuously absent from Los Angeles.

Since the Rams and Raiders left town the city has made no progress in replacing either of them. There are a number of reasons why:

1) You Can't Fight City Hall

The main obstacle in bringing professional football back to Los Angeles has been the Coliseum Commission. Since the L.A. Coliseum is owned by the city, it will always be the only option local government will get behind. There is just too much money involved for city hall to either give up or get behind another bid.

The problem is that the Coliseum is a dump. It is not one of those old buildings with charm, like Wrigley Field. 

Art Modell, the late owner of the Baltimore Ravens, once said about the L.A. Coliseum, "Trying to put a new dress on an old hooker is not the way I want to go dancing."

Philip Anshutz, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Kings and Staples Center, tried unsuccessfully to build a stadium in Downtown L.A. to help lure an expansion team. When he saw what obstacles city hall was planning on putting in his way, he quickly backed down.

Until either an ownership group is willing to foot the bill for the construction of a stadium on top of the billion dollar expansion fee without counting on tax-payer money, the thought of professional football returning to Los Angeles is a long-shot.

2) The NFL Has 32 Teams

This is a bigger deal than most people realize. When the Cleveland Browns returned to the NFL, the league had 31 teams. Having an odd number of teams meant that one team did not play the first week of the season and another team did not play the last week of the season.

Opening day in the NFL is a national holiday. Giving one team the day off excludes their fans from participating.

That is not nearly as important to the NFL as giving a team the week off in Week 17. What if that team is a wild-card team? Is it fair to the division winner they would play on Wild Card Weekend that their opponent had a bye the week before?

During the 2001 season the league gave the opening week bye to the Cardinals and the week 17 bye to San Diego. The Cardinals were coming off of a 3-13 season the year before while the Chargers were 1-15. I do not think it is a coincidence that those were the two teams.

There is more parity in the NFL these days so there is a greater risk involved in giving a bad team from the previous year that last week bye. It is no longer uncommon to see a team go from 3-13 one year to 11-5 the next.

The NFL is probably more interested in having Los Angeles enter the league with another team to prevent this from happening. The problem is that there are not any obvious nominees for the league's 34th franchise.

Las Vegas is still out of the question because of gambling. San Antonio is too tough of a market to crack because of all the Cowboy loyalists. Salt Lake City is also risky for an owner that would have to invest at least a billion dollars to put a team there. A retractable roof stadium would also need to be built to house a team there. The NFL's newest field, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, cost an estimated $675 million, according to the Indianapolis Star.

Besides, the NFL is not ready for 34 teams. There are eights divisions with four teams in each. The addition of two more teams would throw off that balance by giving two divisions an additional team. 

3) Hurricane Katrina and The Emergence of the Chargers

Because it would mean an odd number of teams, the NFL would much rather a team move to Los Angeles than grant them the 33rd franchise as an expansion team. The obvious candidates during the first half of the decade were the Chargers and the Saints.

It was not that long ago that the Chargers were horrible. Then-GM Bobby Beathard was notorious for trading out of the first round each year. Under Beathard, the team never recovered from the drafting of Ryan Leaf.

L.A. had the perfect chance to try to snag the Chargers while they were bad, but they missed the boat. The window closed when the Chargers turned the franchise around. They have won 3 of the last 4 division titles and do not appear to be heading anywhere.

Many San Diegans would not have cared if the team left following that 1-15 season. But now that they are good (at least for the first 17 weeks of the season), the city has embraced them. 

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