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Official: NFL To Play In Los Angeles Next Season

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By Jennifer McLain and Ben Baeder, Staff Writers

Article Launched: 08/27/2008 09:55:14 PM PDT

INDUSTRY - Developer Ed Roski Jr.'s business partner says he has "no doubt" a National Football League team will play in Los Angeles in 2009, most likely at the Rose Bowl.

Majestic Realty Vice President John Semcken also said he believes there is a possibility two NFL teams could wind up playing in the $800 million stadium Roski wants to build in Industry.

"We are going to have a team here next September," Semcken said Tuesday afternoon.

"I personally believe, yes," two teams will come to L.A., he said. "Because the economics are so (good). All I want is one. All our analysis is based on one. If a second team came it would just be a tenant. We're only going to own one."

Roski is a billionaire listed in the Forbes 500 list of the world's richest people. He is president of Industry-based Majestic Realty, part-owner of the NBA's Lakers and NHL's Kings, and co-owner of the Staples Center.

In April, Roski unveiled his plan to build a state-of-the-art football stadium and entertainment complex on a 600-acre plot of land that was previously slated for commercial and retail use.

The anticipated stadium pricetag of $800 million would be about $1 billion less than was spent on the new home of the New York Giants and Jets, Semcken said.

Roski wants to buy a controlling interest in an NFL team and move it to his new stadium, planned to be built near the intersection of the 57 and 60 freeways. Semcken said that Roski has a "handshake deal" with

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Rose Bowl officials to allow an NFL team to play in Pasadena for two seasons, until his new stadium is finished.

Semcken also said NFL executives asked him to make sure the stadium and its training facilities could accommodate two teams.

"Every owner I have talked to is interested in coming," Semcken said. "The idea of moving here is like Nirvana to them."

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said that the league has long identified the Los Angeles region as a two-team market.

The L.A. area has been home to two pro football teams before. The NFL's Rams and the American Football League's Chargers both played in Los Angeles in 1960. When the Rams moved to Anaheim in 1980, it opened the way for the Raiders to move to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum from Oakland. They did so in 1982.

Both the Rams and Raiders played in Southern California through the 1994 season, when the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders returned to Oakland.

"It doesn't mean that we will have two teams there next season, but we have looked at an option that would provide flexibility so that should we have a team there someday. The site could also accommodate another team," McCarthy said.

Seven teams have expressed interest coming to Roski's stadium, but Semcken declined to name them. He said identifying teams could hurt ticket sales in their current stadiums.

In April, Roski listed the New Orleans Saints, Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars, San Diego Chargers, Oakland Raiders, and the San Francisco 49ers as teams that might move to L.A. and his new stadium.

If a team agrees to move and Roski acquires at least part ownership, Semcken said it would play at the Rose Bowl for two seasons while the Industry site is developed. The stadium is expected to be completed in time for the 2011 season.

Semcken said an NFL team playing in the Rose Bowl would not negatively impact UCLA, which is the Rose Bowl's main tenant.

"We've had just very preliminary talks so far," said Darryl Dunn, general manager of the Rose Bowl. "We are definitely interested in anything that could bring in revenue."

Any agreement the NFL reaches would need to be approved by the Rose Bowl officials, Pasadena and UCLA, Dunn said. UCLA officials did not return calls Wednesday.

"The Rose Bowl Operating Company does not have a handshake deal with Majestic Realty for an NFL team," said Charles Thompson, spokesman for the Rose Bowl Operating Company.

Bringing an NFL team to Pasadena - even temporarily - would require community and council support, said Pasadena city spokeswoman Ann Erdman.

In 2006, Pasadena voters rejected Measure A, which would have allowed the NFL to renovate the stadium for NFL purposes.

"As it stands now, the stadium is not NFL ready," Erdman said. "So, therefore, should there sometime in the future be a major renovation to make it NFL ready, there would be many, many processes to go through."

Norman Parker, president of the Linda Vista/Annandale Association, said that the community has had a fine relationship with Rose Bowl management.

"For a couple of years, we could manage with (an NFL team) quite well, and the Rose Bowl would get some well-needed revenue," Parker said. "We look forward to working with them."

Roski's Los Angeles Stadium would seat 75,000 fans, have 175 suites, could have up to 5 million square feet available for commercial use, and provide nearly 6,000 jobs.

http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_10320589

Edited by WideAwakeInTheUSA
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Not that I was that worried, but it was good to see the Chiefs aren't on the list. :star:

If the Browns were able to move, anybody could.

True. Although the Hunts have made a LOT of money here in KC with the Chiefs and other business ventures. Hopefully moving is not on their mind.

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If the 49ers move to LA (if they do move, it's most likely Santa Clara, still in the SF Bay Area), it will become yet another thing I become "agnostic" on.

As in, they will no longer be my team

I heard that somewhere a while back. They seem like a good candidate for a move. If the Raiders go Al Davis will have to get a freebie from the moving company.

My money's on Jacksonville and possibly Minnesota.

Edited by WideAwakeInTheUSA
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Not that I was that worried, but it was good to see the Chiefs aren't on the list. :star:

If the Browns were able to move, anybody could.

True. Although the Hunts have made a LOT of money here in KC with the Chiefs and other business ventures. Hopefully moving is not on their mind.

I agree. I'm surprised they aren't whining that they need a new stadium. Arrowhead (is that still the name?) is one of the oldest stadiums in the league.

Modell was (is) a terrible businessman. He only had the Browns as a source of revenue and managed to bungle that nicely.

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Not that I was that worried, but it was good to see the Chiefs aren't on the list. :star:

If the Browns were able to move, anybody could.

True. Although the Hunts have made a LOT of money here in KC with the Chiefs and other business ventures. Hopefully moving is not on their mind.

I agree. I'm surprised they aren't whining that they need a new stadium. Arrowhead (is that still the name?) is one of the oldest stadiums in the league.

Modell was (is) a terrible businessman. He only had the Browns as a source of revenue and managed to bungle that nicely.

Yep, still Arrowhead. It's an oldie but a goodie. They're in the process of doing a several hundred million dollar (I think???) renovation to it. It should be a lot more modern when they're done.

A couple years back, there was a vote to raise sales tax in the city something like 3/8 of a percent to pay for a dome that rolls between Arrowhead and Royals stadium (they're both in the same parking lot) which would have guaranteed KC a superbowl within the next ten years or something...but taxpayers shot it down :cry:

I hear there were a lot of very pi$$ed off Browns fans when Modell moved the team in the middle of the night!!! I'm guessing maybe you were one of them? I would have been!

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Ill believe this when NFL makes an official announcement. Apparently right now its all just tabloid.... The story originally started back in April 2008, and I havent seen NFL make a statement on this yet... so everything right now is just a rumor....

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I agree. I'm surprised they aren't whining that they need a new stadium. Arrowhead (is that still the name?) is one of the oldest stadiums in the league.

Modell was (is) a terrible businessman. He only had the Browns as a source of revenue and managed to bungle that nicely.

Wow, what timing! You ask about the name of Arrowhead and then this shows up on the Kansas City Star's website...

Arrowhead

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I agree. I'm surprised they aren't whining that they need a new stadium. Arrowhead (is that still the name?) is one of the oldest stadiums in the league.

Modell was (is) a terrible businessman. He only had the Browns as a source of revenue and managed to bungle that nicely.

Wow, what timing! You ask about the name of Arrowhead and then this shows up on the Kansas City Star's website...

Arrowhead

Wow! There aren't many left that haven't sold their naming rights.

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Who cares? Why do you people keep on talking sports that you can't participate in? Lets go out and play our own game ... hit some Titleists! :jest::jest::jest:

aka Señorita Tessa, Señora Bonita, Mariquita Linda, Muñequita Linda, Amor Perdido y Chaparrita Chula!

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Not that I was that worried, but it was good to see the Chiefs aren't on the list. :star:

If the Browns were able to move, anybody could.

True. Although the Hunts have made a LOT of money here in KC with the Chiefs and other business ventures. Hopefully moving is not on their mind.

I agree. I'm surprised they aren't whining that they need a new stadium. Arrowhead (is that still the name?) is one of the oldest stadiums in the league.

Modell was (is) a terrible businessman. He only had the Browns as a source of revenue and managed to bungle that nicely.

Yep, still Arrowhead. It's an oldie but a goodie. They're in the process of doing a several hundred million dollar (I think???) renovation to it. It should be a lot more modern when they're done.

A couple years back, there was a vote to raise sales tax in the city something like 3/8 of a percent to pay for a dome that rolls between Arrowhead and Royals stadium (they're both in the same parking lot) which would have guaranteed KC a superbowl within the next ten years or something...but taxpayers shot it down :cry:

I hear there were a lot of very pi$$ed off Browns fans when Modell moved the team in the middle of the night!!! I'm guessing maybe you were one of them? I would have been!

In his defense, it wasn't exactly in the middle of the night. That dubious distinction belonged to the Baltimore Colts. They literally backed up moving vans in the wee hours of the night and left. The Browns/Baltimore (irony at it's best) deal was done on the tarmac at Cleveland Hopkins airport in broad daylight. Even more ironic is the fact that they did the deal in the late Al Lerner's private jet. Lerner, owner of MBNA, went on to own the expansion Browns. They are now owned by his son Randy.

Yeah, I was pissed. I was living in Tacoma at the time and came back in the summer of '95 to visit my family. I picked up the paper and saw that Modell said "Let's talk about a new stadium after the season". I put down the paper and said "Dad, the Browns are going to move". My Dad and Brother laughed at me, but it turned out to be one time in my life that I was right. I knew if he wasn't interested in talking about a new stadium then something was wrong. The voters approved funds for a renovation project the day after the move was announced, but renovation wouldn't have worked. when they demolished Municipal Stadium they found out that it was FUBAR.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browns#1991.E...Modell.27s_move

One thing we have in common is Marty Schottenheimer. When Modell let him go the exit from Cleveland started. I'm sure that if he would have stuck around we would have gotten to the Super Bowl in '89. As it was we got to the AFC Championship game, only to lose yet again to the Broncos.

Edited by WideAwakeInTheUSA
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Who cares? Why do you people keep on talking sports that you can't participate in? Lets go out and play our own game ... hit some Titleists! :jest::jest::jest:

I participate. I yell, cuss, scream, cheer and have even cried when they lost! My love for the Cleveland Browns is one of the constant themes in mine and my families life.

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