The Boston Globe speculates that the city of Los Angeles could acquire a NFL team by the year 2011.
“I strongly believe an NFL franchise will play in Los Angeles for the 2011 season,’’ said Majestic vice president John Semcken. “I’ve been working on this for 14 years, and it’s been a long road. I know we’re very, very close.’’
It’s been a long road for the city as a whole, but there’s also plenty of reason to believe that Los Angeles’s latest shot at a team won’t be a blank as so many others have been.
Start with the stadium. Semcken’s term – “shovel-ready’’ – is meant to emphasize that as soon as a team commits to moving to Los Angeles, ground can be broken on the privately financed facility some 20 miles east of downtown.
That the effort to get a stadium built is so focused on one site is significant in this case, since there have been so many different venues proposed in the past (Chavez Ravine, Downtown, Anaheim, the Coliseum) and different groups battling over where the new place should be built splintering efforts to get a team.
Another significant victory came in October, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill exempting the site from state environmental laws. Financing remains an issue, particularly in seeking a naming-rights deal and sponsorships in an uncertain economy.
As a fan, I couldn’t care less if Los Angeles gets another team. Great, fine – whatever.
But as a fan, I also think 32 teams is more than enough and I’d rather the NFL concentrate on not having a lockout in 2011 than giving L.A. a franchise. But maybe that’s just me.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
