NFL may build stadium in L.A.
Posted: Saturday January 30, 1999 03:01 PM
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Tagliabue said the NFL could choose which city will get the 32nd franchise before deciding on an ownership group Tom Hauck/Allsport |
HOUSTON (AP) -- Houston may have fallen behind in the race for the
next NFL expansion team.
NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Friday that the league may build
a stadium in Los Angeles and select an owner for a franchise there later.
Under the scenario, the NFL could front the entire cost of the stadium --
as much as $400 million.
"We will consider it as an alternative and bring it up in February,"
when league owners meet in Atlanta, Tagliabue said.
Though conventional wisdom says Los Angeles will get the nod over
Houston because it is a much larger media market, it's not a sure bet, the
commissioner added.
"This is a tough competition. It is a tight race between Houston and
Los Angeles," Tagliabue said during his annual State of the League speech
during Super Bowl week.
"Los Angeles has certain pluses. Houston has certain pluses. We're
going to have to strike that balance, but you couldn't say that television
alone is going to drive the decision."
Houston businessman Bob McNair, who is leading the effort to bring pro
football back to the city, said he saw a silver lining in Tagliabue's
comments.
If the NFL is considering fronting the cost of the stadium, McNair
said, league officials must be dissatisfied with the proposals coming out
of Los Angeles.
"It's an indication, to me, anyway, that what they see in Los Angeles
is not adequate," McNair told the Houston Chronicle in Saturday
editions.
The National Football League did somewhat the same thing two years ago
for Cleveland's $285 million stadium when it put up about $60 million,
which was repaid by an ownership group chosen last year.
For the 32nd franchise, Tagliabue said the league could first choose
which city will be awarded the team, then decide later on an ownership
group. He said the city could be chosen sometime between March and May.
Another indication that LA is the favorite over Houston is that
Tagliabue discounted what has been one of McNair's biggest selling points:
that without a tax-supported stadium such as the one proposed for Houston,
a Los Angeles team would be saddled with too much debt.
"I don't think it's a big factor," Tagliabue said. "We have stadiums
like Jack Kent Cooke Stadium that were heavily paid for with private
financing, and it worked. Obviously, we've had stadiums with heavy public
financing, like Baltimore, which is two extremes 45 miles apart from each
other."
Houston has proposed a $310 million retractable-roof stadium in the
parking lot of the current Astrodome. Taxpayers would provide $195 million
of the cost.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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