Los Angeles Stadium May Never Be Built

A month ago, I wrote an article recounting the only black eye the NFL has received since the 1960's, the lack of a team in the United States' second biggest market, Los Angeles. 

I also illustrated the difference between the reactions of cities like Baltimore, Oakland, Houston, and Cleveland which had angry protests and outcries when they lost their franchises, and Los Angeles which only yawned when they lost two franchises in one year.

One commentator of my article suggested I do more research as Los Angeles was about to approve the construction of a new 75,000 seat stadium. I responded to him that until construction actually started, there might be many slips between the cup and the lip.

Nevertheless, I went to the Web site he directed me to, and saw illustrations and plans for the new stadium, and that it was about to be approved within a few weeks.

So I ate humble pie and wrote a follow-up article about NFL expansion. Since Los Angeles lost its franchises, the NFL has been dying to get back into the second biggest market in the United States and all that has stopped them is the fact there is no modern stadium built in the area. This new stadium would be a green light for expansion. Since the NFL usually likes to expand in twos, I drew up a list of cities that could be paired with Los Angeles.

I got lots of responders to my new article, but what surprised me was that many of the commentators said there would be no expansion at all, but relocation.

Although I have initially eaten humble pie, I may yet get the last laugh with the responder to my first article.

First, this week, the city of Walnut filed a lawsuit blocking the building of the stadium because of traffic and noise concerns.

More serious for fans of ALL sports is this idea of relocation.

If this scheme comes off, all sports fans should quit watching professional sports forever. We won't of course. We're too addicted. Even when our faces are being shoved face-first into crap as in this case, we'll keep coming back.

So what stinks about this new stadium?

I've done some more research and what I've come up with is that this stadium is being constructed with no intention of getting an expansion franchise. It's relocation all the way.

The NFL has not scheduled any meetings for future expansion of the league, so this stadium is being constructed with the intent to steal another city's NFL franchise.  Candidates include San Diego, Oakland, San Francisco, Minnesota, Jacksonville, Buffalo, and New Orleans.

Now no sports league, least of all the NFL, likes to have its franchises tampered with.  (Sometimes opposition to relocation is taken to stupid levels, re. Gary Bettman.)

I've written several articles advocating NHL relocation of franchises, but there is one major difference in this case: the NHL franchises were not being supported and losing money while in most cases, the NFL was getting near-capacity crowds.

For an example, let's assume the team being moved is San Francisco. Your owner has always made money, just not as much as he would in a new stadium.

Suppose you've been a fan from the days of Super Joe and before. Now, in spite of all your devotion and that of thousands of others like you, you're going to watch your team leave to become the L.A. 49ers.

A team your city supported for decades will move to a city that showed indifference when it lost two football franchises.

So what can you do to keep your team? 

Give into blackmail and build a new stadium with a gun to your head. And even if your new stadium is built, it still won't guarantee permanent residency.

And it could have a rippling effect; San Francisco loses its team, so it steals Minnesota's, which in turn steals San Diego's, which in turn steals Jacksonville's, which in turn....

But most sports leagues do not like relocation. Seattle was blocked from moving to Los Angeles by the NFL in 1995. 

There is talk that no construction of the new stadium will take place until Los Angeles gets a team. The NFL may soon be caught between a rock and a hard place; watch one of its established franchises be yanked out of its market leaving more anger and bitterness, or spurning Miss L.A. whom they've been trying to woo for a decade and a half.

Such owner tactics of blackmail ought to cause all professional sports team fans to switch to doing something else, especially in this recession. Instead, we're going to allow our faces to be covered in crap because we're too addicted.

But until the temptress, Los Angeles succeeds with its seduction, its bulldozers may end up getting rusty.