Longtime L.A. Times NFL reporter Sam Farmer has constantly been asked one question over the years -- "When is Los Angeles going to get a football team?" At one point in time he developed this go-to response: "When my third-grade son is applying to colleges." Flash forward to today -- Thomas is now a junior in high school, he will be sending out applications in the fall, and lo and behold, the Rams will be playing their home games in Southern California for the first time since '94. Here, Farmer, who has covered the league since '00 for the Times, shares with THE DAILY his thoughts on that "funny coincidence" and more on the topic of the NFL's return to L.A.
Q: Was your stock answer based on more of an educated guess or a hunch?
Farmer: It was a hunch. For me, it probably sounded like an impossibly far-out time; I didn't know the time would move this quickly and all of a sudden my third-grade son would be close to college age. But I did figure the NFL's return would ultimately happen because the league always back-fills markets that it leaves. That said, Los Angeles was a game of 3D chess -- very difficult to solve, a tough code to crack. It didn't happen until NFL owners and the league realized that it wouldn't be developers, businessmen, politicians or entertainers pulling this thing across the goal line. It would have to come from the NFL, and the NFL would have to use a new playbook. I think the league did that starting in about 2012 with Roger Goodell saying, "We've got to look at this a little differently."
Q: You were quoted in March '12 as saying, "One of the questions that has gone on, back and forth, is does L.A. need the NFL more or does the NFL need L.A. more? And I think the real question is does either side really need the other?" How would you answer your own question looking back four years later?
Farmer: I don't think either side needed the other, but both sides wanted the other. It was a case of having some really attractive options, particularly Stan Kroenke's stadium at Hollywood Park, which was sort of a transcendent project that would be uniquely Los Angeles. When he unfurled his vision for that stadium at the beginning of 2015, it became obvious that if he was going to sink his resources into it and make it a reality, it would be the answer. The notion of a 300-acre site where you can do everything you want to do, it was just too attractive for the league to pass up.
Q: What was your biggest surprise both within the past year and since '95 as far as the NFL getting back to L.A.?
Farmer: I was surprised that it got so contentious, so tense and so messy before the deal got done. It became a situation where owners were pitted against owners in a league that has really relied on presenting a unified front. It had the feel of a high school popularity contest. But in the end, I think the Hollywood Park project was so enticing that all the stuff about popularity and politics sort of fell away. The surprising part over the whole 21 years was just how long it took. There was this bizarre anomaly of L.A. being the second-biggest market without the most popular sport.
Q: What's been the reaction locally to the Rams' impending return?
Farmer: Just in these last few days, you can see people re-engaged with the NFL. They are really excited. There's a buzz in this city that I haven't felt in decades about pro football, and it's really cool. I think it's going to be a huge news story this entire next season.
Q: Do the Chargers follow the Rams?
Farmer: Logically yes, although I hope the Chargers think long and hard about that. Los Angeles feels like a one-team market right now, and they would unquestionably be the second team in the city -- a distant second -- because it's pretty clear that the Rams are king. San Diego is a very attractive market. If the Chargers can possibly work something out in San Diego, I think it would be great for the NFL. If San Diego is vacated, it automatically becomes the most attractive market for a team that might want to move. Hopefully the Chargers and the city of San Diego can put their differences aside and work out a deal, but I think the likelihood is probably greater right now that Dean Spanos agrees to a partnership with Stan Kroenke.
