Will The NFL Ever Return To Los Angeles?
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — With the Super Bowl just days away one question keeps popping up: Will the NFL come back to L.A. anytime soon?
Commissioner Roger Goodell may be pressed for an answer Friday. He's scheduled to speak at the annual State of the League news conference in Dallas and may need to address the possibility of the NFL returning to Los Angeles.
KNX 1070 Reports: NFL Commissioner says players and owners need to hammer out a deal before NFL returns to L.A.
Podcast
The news conference comes three days after the potential construction of a stadium adjacent to Staples Center was boosted by the announcement of a 30- year naming-rights agreement with Farmers Insurance Exchange, potentially worth $700 million.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said at a news conference Tuesday that the agreement is "a major indication of the viability of a franchise in Los Angeles and yes, that's significant money."
"I'm on the committee for expansion out there," Jones said. "Certainly the kinds of things they are doing within the framework of the financial dollars I'm hearing about should work."
Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney II told reporters at Super Bowl media day Tuesday that he thought Los Angeles would have an NFL team by at least 2016.
"I think Los Angeles is in the picture by then," Rooney said. "It's a great football town. They've supported a few franchises over the years and, hopefully, we'll get another one back there by at least 2016."
A 75,000-seat stadium complex has also been proposed. Its developer, Edward P. Roski Jr., the chairman and chief executive officer of Majestic Realty Co., has said the stadium will not be built without a team first making a commitment to play there.
The lack of an adequate stadium is considered the leading reason the Los Angeles area has not had an NFL team since 1994.
Since then, failed stadium proposals have been made for Carson, downtown Los Angeles and Chavez Ravine, along with a proposed remodeling of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The Los Angeles Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995, the same year as the Los Angeles Raiders returned to Oakland. The Rams played at the Anaheim Stadium and the Raiders at the Coliseum.
(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
