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

The Saints were also a candidate to move to Los Angeles before they became New Orleans rallying cry after Hurricane Katrina. Mike Ditka destroyed the franchise by trading all of the team's draft picks to the Redskins to get Ricky Williams.

The team went 3-13 the season before Katrina hit. There were rumors in Los Angeles that the Saints were on their way. Those rumors were not quelled when the Texans passed on drafting Reggie Bush to take Mario Williams.

The conspiracy theory in L.A. was that the NFL had given the Texans some sort of compensation to pass on Bush, so that he could be the centerpiece of the NFL's return to Los Angeles.

At first, Katrina seemed like it would be the best excuse for Tom Benson to move the Saints to Los Angeles. Many of its residents had fled, the Superdome was in need of repair and many of the businesses that buy up the luxury boxes had abandoned the city.

Nobody could foresee that the team and the Superdome would become symbols of the city's resurrection. The team went 10-6 and made it to the NFC Championship Game.

L.A. had lost the Saints before they ever got them.

4) Los Angeles is a City of Transplants

Los Angeles has a reputation for being a bad sports town. This one always makes me laugh because it could not be further from the truth. Los Angeles is one of the nation's best sports towns.

Los Angeles is 45% made up of people who moved here from somewhere else. And every one of those people brought their allegiances with them. There are bars in L.A. for nearly every team's supporters.

So, while it is not like Pittsburgh or Kansas City in terms of the entire city backing the team, it is great because of its "sports diversity". Every person you meet is a fan of a different team. Sports bars here are like the United Nations, with at least two delegates representing every team (except the Cardinals. I have never seen a Cardinals fan).

What all this means for L.A. trying to get a team, is that they're never going to get a march on city hall to get pro football. People there already have allegiances, so why would they line up to help get an expansion team they have no intention of supporting?

5) Every Television Market Only Gets Five Games Broadcast Every Week

This one kind of gets tied into the previous one. There is so much football analysis on TV these days that we tend to forget that for the majority of the season, we do not really get that many games on TV.

Fox and CBS alternate each week between which network gets a doubleheader. So there are three games on in L.A. between 10 am and 4 pm on Sundays, in addition to the Sunday night and Monday night game.

What that means is that markets that do not have teams get the best games on TV. So instead of being force-fed a Raiders/Lions or Panthers/Rams game, there is the chance that L.A. could get a Packers/Eagles or Giants/Cowboys game.

For a city made up of so many transplants, the difference is being able to roll out of bed and watch the games in your underwear or having to switch to DirectTV or go to a sports bar and spend $40 on food and drink if they want to watch a good game. 

6) USC Football

Believe it or not, the success of USC football over the last 7 or 8 years has hurt the NFL's chances of coming back. Ask any USC fan and they will tell you that professional football returned to L.A. when Pete Carroll was hired as the Trojans' head coach.

The Trojans have given many Angelenos enough of their football fix to quiet the jones for an NFL team.

7) It is Only 8 Sundays a Year

I love professional football as much as the next guy. But take off your blinders for a second and realize that, excluding the playoffs and the preseason, most teams only play 8 games a year at home.

Is it really worth asking the citizens of Los Angeles to spend their tax dollars on a $700 million stadium that's only open 8 days out of the year?

We were talking about a 100,000-seat facility that would only house an NFL team, possibly USC or UCLA and Chivas USA of the MLS? How many bands can sell out a 100,000 seat stadium?

Sure there is the occasional moto-cross event or X Games, but does L.A. really need another facility for that?

L.A., Paris, London and Athens are the only cities to ever host two Olympiads. It has been 24 years since the last L.A. Olympics. Atlanta hosted in 1996 and Chicago has already been nominated as the U.S. choice for the 2016 Olympics. So if Chicago wins the bid, then another U.S. city will not host until 2028, at the earliest.

It just does not make sense to build a stadium that can't even host another Olympics for twenty years.

8) They Had Their Chance and Blew It

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?