As it "all seems to be falling together" for L.A.'s NFL
expansion bid, "it may be coming apart" for partners Ed
Roski and Eli Broad, according to Steve Dilbeck of the L.A.
DAILY NEWS, who writes, "And it's mostly their own fault."
As the "deal grows close ... it is hard to fight the feeling
the league is now in a position to get what you suspect it
always wanted: [Michael] Ovitz as your new Los Angeles
franchise owner." Dilbeck writes that the NFL has "gone to
extraordinary pains to keep Ovitz in the franchise game,
when by all logic, he should have been eliminated long ago,"
considering that he put his "money and preparation into
bringing the NFL to Carson." While Ovitz may have the
design plan and enough financial backing, the "one important
thing Ovitz could not offer the NFL was local political
support." But when the two groups agreed to merge, Ovitz
"immediately inherited all that political support," and his
"greatest weakness, the one thing that might have proven his
undoing, was now a strength." By agreeing to drop their
exclusive arrangement at the Coliseum and giving Ovitz their
"political backing and connections," Broad and Roski
"undermined their own strength." Broad: "I don't think so.
I think it's a level playing field. I have confidence that
the commissioner and his executives and the owners will make
the right decision for the league. ... We gave up our
exclusive and two years of work because we believe that
working together, we have a better chance of getting the job
done than being divided and having the franchise go off to
Houston" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 7/23).
COLISEUM DEVELOPMENT: In L.A., Simers & Newton report
that L.A.'s NFL supporters are "pushing a plan to have the
city acquire property" near the Coliseum and "relocating the
parcel's residents to clear space for a retail complex and
parking." Most of the land is "home to parking lots and few
small commercial enterprises," and while City Council member
Mark Ridley-Thomas said about 50 families live there as
well, he was confident that "all sides could be
accommodated" in any development (L.A. TIMES, 7/23).