Posted on 01/31/2005 9:27:55 AM PST by ConservativeStatement
In cities across the nation — Phoenix, Seattle, Indianapolis — owners have used the absence of a Los Angeles franchise as leverage. They have extracted concessions worth hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers while threatening — though it is rarely said explicitly, and doesn't have to be — to move to L.A. "I'm suspicious whether the NFL owners really want to fill that void — or whether it is in their interest to keep Los Angeles without a team," said Louisiana Rep. Joe Toomy, a Republican. "Financially, they are taking full advantage of this, and it has worked against many communities, especially the smaller markets."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Another reason why I fail to watch professional millionaires at play. No thanks. They took a GAME and scammed the nation.
The Bidwells used it very explicitly. They said outright if they didn't get a new stadium they were moving to LA, given how bad the Cardinals are I think it was more of a promise than a threat but the Phoenix voters approved the new tax anyway.
There are other ways to get things done besides scalping the public.
It will be interesting to see what happens in Minnesota over the next few weeks, months.
.......and LA will stick them into the voluminous (re: Lots of bad seats away from the action) Coliseum with a promise to upgrade the stadium, the same as they did the Raiders.
That's the sticking point, nobody trying to lure a team to LA seems to have a plan that doesn't involve the Coliseum and it sucks.
Kraft DID threaten to move the team to Hartford, Connecticut. He might have done this for other concessions (road improvements, etc.) or maybe Massachusetts called the bluff.
Right, and he is a classy person, but he did flirt with Hartford for a while.
When I lived in San Antonio, old Red McCombs bought the Vikings. There was talk of him moving them to S.A., but there was a stadium contract in Minn. he was stuck with.
Is that contract over soon? Maybe he'll move them to the Alamodome...
Bidwell is the worst owner in the NFL. I wish they would move the team. Maybe in a few years we would get a better team here.
Wouldn't be the first team to be transplanted from MN...
San Antonio Gunslingers...part 2? From what I have read, I doubt SA is in the mix but there is a political debate in Minnesota about the possibility of multiple stadiums there (Twins, Vikings, Gophers). The Gov of Minnesota has met with prospective owners as McCombs may sell the team. One is a businessman in Arizona and another is the NBA's Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor. This is one of a series of stories in recent days:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/510/5211548.html
At the very least we wouldn't have to deal with the blackout zone anymore.
He did, however, threaten to move to Rhode Island or Connecticut.
Isn't the old Met part of the grounds of the Mall of America?
I read this piece yesterday,
We have the best of both worlds from south & east of SF and north and east of SD,
we get to see three games each Sunday for FREE!
And we don't have to go any further than our living rooms...
While enjoying 70 degree weather.
Who needs an NFL team? We don't!
And only Morons in charge of Running a City would let that be used against them.
There's a reason the Raiders are back in Oakland, and It ain't nostalgia.
Football, in LA-LA LAnd is not a Money Making proposition.
Not enough Fannies in Bleachers, Not enough Ratings, (if you can get over the blackout rule...)
bump
Personally, I wouldn't care if the NFL never came back to L.A. The Raiders were just passing through, and everybody knew it. And the Rams left town five years before the Rams left town, if you get my drift.
Since they've been gone, I haven't missed NFL football, don't watch it much on Sundays anymore, have no interest in the game except during the playoffs, and have a renewed interest in the college game. Especially with the way USC is playing these days.
So the NFL, with its musical teams changing cities every few years, can take a flying leap. I only wonder when Georgia Frontiere will decide the St. Louis faithful aren't kissing her backside with sufficient enthusiasm that she starts talking about moving back to L.A.
Then we'll really be in trouble.
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