NFL Tells L.A. It's Not Ready To Move Forward With Coliseum

NFL Owners Feels There Are Too Many "Economic Risks" To Placing Team In Coliseum

The NFL three months ago told L.A. officials that a team "will not be coming to the Coliseum," according to Rick Orlov of the L.A. DAILY NEWS.  A letter written by Coliseum Commission President and City Council member Bernard Parks to the NFL indicated that "the city's latest hope of luring an NFL team involved pleading for [L.A.] to host a Super Bowl to try to regenerate interest in moving a team to the city." In response, NFL Senior VP/Strategic Planning Neil Glat wrote that "league owners think the 'economic risks' are too great to commit $1[B] to renovate the Coliseum." Glat wrote, "We are not prepared to move forward with the project at this moment." Glat also rejected the idea of L.A. hosting a Super Bowl, saying it "would be inconsistent with our current practice, given that [L.A.] is currently not home to an NFL team."  But Parks said of the NFL's response, "All this means is that it will be team-driven and not NFL-driven." Coliseum GM Pat Lynch said, "Right now, there is nothing going on, but that doesn't mean that something couldn't happen in the future." Lynch said that he is not aware of "any active local effort" to buy an NFL franchise (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 10/21).