Wednesday, November 4, 1998
Los Angeles undeserving of next football franchise
COLUMN: Hollywood tries to seduce NFL team away from dependable
Houston
The plans have been laid out on the table. The presentations
have all been made. No tactic of salesmanship has been spared.
Now the Los Angeles and Houston communities, as well as NFL fans
in general, must wait to hear the verdict.
The question: who will win the rights to the next teal and black
clothed tackle-football team? (i.e. the NFL¹s 32nd
franchise)
But we shouldn¹t hold our breath; we won¹t find out
for another couple of months. This performance is bereft of
suspense because the decision has already been made, just not
publicly.
The newest franchise, and probably the last for a while, will be
awarded to Los Angeles  and it is a travesty.
The show opened on Oct. 27 in Kansas City where NFL owners with
their beer guts and coffee breath watched as each of the three
interested parties made their opening monologues.
The players include real estate developer Ed Roski who, along
with his entourage, hope to renovate the L.A. Coliseum; former
Hollywood agent Robert Ovitz with his proposal to build a stadium
on a Carson landfill; and Houston millionaire and philanthropist
Robert McNair.
Unfortunately for McNair and his Houston group, they entered the
contest with the count at 0-2 and a curveball on the way. McNair is
not competing against Roski and Ovitz; he¹s competing against
the second largest television market in the country.
Unfortunately, the prospect for television network revenue is
blinding the NFL to a solid business deal in Houston that is ready
to begin construction upon hearing an OK.
Let¹s see, although I was not present for the meetings
between the financial groups and NFL owners and commissioner Paul
Tagliabue, I can bet the conversations went like this:
NFL: So Houston, do you have the plans in place for your
stadium?
Houston: Absolutely, in fact let me show you how our dollars
breakdown; from the city tax fund we have …
NFL: Fine, fine but what about support from the community? This
is very important.
Houston: Yes it is, in fact the public overwhelmingly approved a
hefty allocation of public funds to …
NFL: OK, that sounds fine, but I¹m not all that impressed
quite yet. How about you L.A?
L.A.: Who me? Oh ya, the stadium deal … um … yeah we have
all kinds of money … um … let¹s see here … my associates
are working around the clock on this I assure you.
NFL: That sounds tre-mendous! Let¹s talk further next week
 I like what I hear so far.
At the meetings in Kansas City, each group presented videos,
models, blueprints and lastly, the financial breakdowns.
The owners had fallen asleep during the Houston party¹s
presentation. They were made sleepy by the signatures of the mayor,
county officials and sports authorities pledging approval for the
stadium¹s erection, followed by pages of evidence for how,
where and when the financial backing would be available.
They were awakened from their naps, however, when Hollywood
mogul Ovitz took the podium. Like children, all one needs to do to
grab the owners¹ attention is play some music and flash lights
 and this is exactly what Ovitz did.
All too aware that his plan lacked the strength of his Houston
counterparts, Ovitz did what a good Hollywood person should do to
wrestle back the advantage: cater to the audience¹s love for a
good movie with a sentimental plot.
He played a video featuring a cloudless Los Angeles sky hovering
over palm trees with Beverly Hills children playing in the street.
Craftily and convincingly, Ovitz and company produced a video that
made the return of professional football to Los Angeles appear to
be the answer to the community¹s collective prayers.
Ovitz¹s video had editing, camera work and style but like
his current proposal it¹s a lot of smoke, mirrors and flashy
lights; but underneath lies a foundation held together by strings
and masking tape.
Although Los Angeles should be praised for its diversity of
ethnicity and opinion, reaching a consensus on putting up a stop
sign is rigidly contested by multiple sides, let alone a football
stadium.
The bottom line is that the city of Houston  mayor, county
officials and the public in general  are all in agreement
that an NFL stadium is the way to go. Robert McNair is a very
popular and trusted individual in the Houston area for his
efforts.
As far as the NFL¹s concern over the television market,
well, Houston is a tiny city. Besides, based on the television
ratings for Raider and Ram games while they were still in Los
Angeles, it is evident that the L.A. community prefers the
beach.
When the verdict comes in, in mid-February, L.A. football fans
 few as they may be  will be thrilled to pick up the
morning paper to find that they will have a team.
But the response of the majority of the L.A. community upon
hearing the news will be, ³Huh? We have a team?! Alright! …
What sport was that again?²
Meanwhile, an entire region in Texas will put their heads in
their hands and wait for a current team to relocate  whenever
that may be.
So I offer one last plea to the NFL to do the right thing.
When you have to decide on where to put the 32nd NFL franchise,
I say choose emphatically and unequivocally. Jared Hummel
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