I just noticed that Los Angeles, the 2nd largest city in the U.S. (or maybe the largest if you add up enough of the suburbs) doesn't have an NFL team. This seems kind of odd, considering they have 2 baseball, hockey, and basketball teams (assuming Anaheim counts as L.A.) Anyone know what the explanation is!?
living here - i can tell you
WE DON'T WANT ONE!
the raiders are still very popular here and we get stuck with all their games every week.
there is too much to do here for people to care about the nfl. and getting an nfl team will hurt our tv coverage.
if the nfl tries to bring in the chargers - people will ignore them in mass numbers.
being a broncos' fan i don't want to see another team here - especially an existing team.
the ONLY way an nfl team would survive here is an expansion one - and the nfl won't be expanding soon.
i look forward to railbird's response!
WE DON'T WANT ONE!
the raiders are still very popular here and we get stuck with all their games every week.
there is too much to do here for people to care about the nfl. and getting an nfl team will hurt our tv coverage.
if the nfl tries to bring in the chargers - people will ignore them in mass numbers.
being a broncos' fan i don't want to see another team here - especially an existing team.
the ONLY way an nfl team would survive here is an expansion one - and the nfl won't be expanding soon.
i look forward to railbird's response!
of the 4 major sports (and calling the NHL a major sport in the US is being generous - even thought i LOVE hockey) the one that it is best to watch on tv - and worst to be at the game - IS the nfl. the game and the way it is televised is best to watch at home.
of those 4 sports - the one where you MUST be there is hockey. i have people tell me how much they don't like the NHL. i ask if it is because the have trouble following the puck - and over 90% of the time - they tell me it is. i love the sport and have no trouble following it. i tell those who have a negative view of the NHL to SEE A GAME IN PERSON and you will never look at the game the same way. you will understand it more. i also tell these people that when they go to get seats up high so they can follow the puck and see plays develop when they happen - something you can't see from ice level.
of those 4 sports - the one where you MUST be there is hockey. i have people tell me how much they don't like the NHL. i ask if it is because the have trouble following the puck - and over 90% of the time - they tell me it is. i love the sport and have no trouble following it. i tell those who have a negative view of the NHL to SEE A GAME IN PERSON and you will never look at the game the same way. you will understand it more. i also tell these people that when they go to get seats up high so they can follow the puck and see plays develop when they happen - something you can't see from ice level.
Trojans drew 75000 vs Hawaii last week, La will support a team if it is winning, Raiders use to draw very well when they were winning, they had 90000 a couple of times. The neighboorhood around the La Coliseum has been cleaned up quite a bit the last 6 years, I think La will have a team in 2005, I think it will be the Colts or Raiders.
Orange County is not part of LA, 2 completly diffrent set of fans. We lost the Rams because Carroll Rosenbloom married a hooker and the hooker killed him.
Orange County is not part of LA, 2 completly diffrent set of fans. We lost the Rams because Carroll Rosenbloom married a hooker and the hooker killed him.
None of the teams in LA get good live fan support, but they mostly make tons of cash from TV. Lakers get support now, but an off year or two and the fans desert them in droves. My buddy said it best a couple years back, if you went to Staples or around town that first year they opened the arena, you saw more than a reasonable share of t-shirts from their last championship, or looked like they were from then. Until they won again, people wouldn't buy another shirt. That is an LA fan for you, if you ain't winning we don't even know who plays for you, if you are champs then yeah of course I am a fan, been a fan forever. Worthless people, even people in LA admit their support is terrible. While the theory about other things to do might ring true somewhat, I think its just the culture in So Cal that everyone wants to be associated with things that are fashionable and losing teams are definitely out of fashion. Just look at the Angels, they had trouble filling a modest size stadium until the playoffs last year and now that the playoffs are out of reach the crowd numbers haven't improved much from last year. You got to be kidding me, first title in 40 years as a franchise and they can't get a noticeable pop in attendance. That is LA for you. Works the same way for everyone college and pro. And about the NFL, just a suspicion that they are afraid of taking on asswipe Davis, they are afraid of the endless suits he would put on them, it could cost the NFL hundreds of millions for all they know.
As a ticket scalper I know better then anyone what the fan base is for every team in any professional sport, that includes age, income, and where they live. The only teams from La that Orange County supports is the LA Kings because there were the only team in town before the Ducks were here and the USC trojans becasue of the big alumni base that is in Orange County, and some Laker fans that are corporate types that can afford the expensive seats. You will rarely see an Orange County person at a Dodger game even if the Angels are playing there, but when the Dodgers are at Anaheim there is tons of Dodger fans. The Raiders never drew Orange County fans, with the exception of some latin people that were there to party and could not name 1 player on the team.
I will say LA is a baseball town, Dodgers have the highest attendance over the last 20 years, only team close is Yankees. Angels actually drew 3 million this year, but they lie as much as 8000 a game recently, even though AL is tickets sold they still lie on top of that about attendance. The Angels had 20 saleouts this year, but 10 of those were because of rally monkeys or beach towels.
The networks want LA to have a football team very badly since they are the number 2 market. The problem is that there is no good stadium to put the team. The LA Coliseum is too old and with an 8-lane running track circling the playing field that pushes the fans that much farther away. It also has almost no luxury boxes. The NFL has talked about remodeling the Coliseum but nothing has been done. Unless city or state government help with the financing of new stadium, which looks almost impossible given CA finances, LA will not get a new stadium.
The other problem is that no existing team is unhappy enough to move. Al Davis was bitching about broken promises that were made to him when he moved the team to Oakland but I doubt he would move back to LA. During the last round of expansion it was between LA and Houston and the networks badly wanted the owners to pick LA. But Houston did a very smart thing and added an extra 50 million dollars on top of the LA offer, the owners took Houston. Expansion needs to be approved ¾ of the owners and it hasn’t even been brought up, so, no expansion.
No viable stadium, no new stadium, no new team, and no unhappy team mean no team in LA for a long time.
The other problem is that no existing team is unhappy enough to move. Al Davis was bitching about broken promises that were made to him when he moved the team to Oakland but I doubt he would move back to LA. During the last round of expansion it was between LA and Houston and the networks badly wanted the owners to pick LA. But Houston did a very smart thing and added an extra 50 million dollars on top of the LA offer, the owners took Houston. Expansion needs to be approved ¾ of the owners and it hasn’t even been brought up, so, no expansion.
No viable stadium, no new stadium, no new team, and no unhappy team mean no team in LA for a long time.
The only person that really wants a team in the LA area is Paul Tagliabue. We know he thinks he's smarter than everyone else but there's a few things he hasn't bothered to think about.
The main reason is if a team goes to that area, the fans actually get to see less football because the blackout rules will take a TV game away because everyone knows the local team wouldn't sell out. There are a few other reasons. The public is not willing to pay for a new stadium to house a team that they didn't really want in the first place. Nor should they be asked or forced to pay for it. There's already many sports teams and tons of activities to do in the area.
The NFL has other things to worry about. Such as the worst officiating in all of sports and a moronic overtime rule. They should address those things instead of trying to put a team in the LA area that no one really wants.
The main reason is if a team goes to that area, the fans actually get to see less football because the blackout rules will take a TV game away because everyone knows the local team wouldn't sell out. There are a few other reasons. The public is not willing to pay for a new stadium to house a team that they didn't really want in the first place. Nor should they be asked or forced to pay for it. There's already many sports teams and tons of activities to do in the area.
The NFL has other things to worry about. Such as the worst officiating in all of sports and a moronic overtime rule. They should address those things instead of trying to put a team in the LA area that no one really wants.
Worst officiating in sports? Come on, they are bad but the NBA takes the cake for that. At least the NFL is uniformly bad, the NBA is just about which team has more superstars.
The NFL thinks they will get better ratings in LA with a local team, but its just not true. Unless they had guaranteed sellouts they would see lower ratings because the worst thing for ratings is having a home game and then having to show another team. That is proven to kill local ratings, the people that really care are at the game and the people that don't care say well the Colts or whatever are not on TV so lets do something else. So having no local team but no risk of blackouts is the key. In the NFL's thinking the whole world wants to watch their product as they present it. How else can you explain the moronic demonization of gambling on it when that drives all the ratings and makes tons of money for them with Direct TV.
The NFL thinks they will get better ratings in LA with a local team, but its just not true. Unless they had guaranteed sellouts they would see lower ratings because the worst thing for ratings is having a home game and then having to show another team. That is proven to kill local ratings, the people that really care are at the game and the people that don't care say well the Colts or whatever are not on TV so lets do something else. So having no local team but no risk of blackouts is the key. In the NFL's thinking the whole world wants to watch their product as they present it. How else can you explain the moronic demonization of gambling on it when that drives all the ratings and makes tons of money for them with Direct TV.
