Read the debate intro and Loyal Homer’s argument that Los Angeles needs an NFL franchise.
(Editor’s note: Bleacher Fan is still on vacation. Can you tell?)
I love vacation!
As I sit out on the deck looking over the shores of Lake Michigan on this cloudless, breezy summer day, a laughable thought enters my mind – the idea that billionaire Ed Roski has put together a proposal to bring yet another professional football team into Los Angeles!
Benjamin Franklin once defined insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly, but expecting a different outcome. Why on earth would Roski think that it was a wise idea to do this, when the formula has already been tested and failed?!
The (current) Oakland Raiders and St. Louis Rams both did time in La-La Land, and both organizations were the worse for it! Consider the average attendance at games for these two organizations while in Los Angeles, which ran at a rate of more than 25% below the rest of the league average! This was a primary reason that both teams left the city back in 1995.
For the NFL to believe that a team should once again move into Los Angeles, there will have to be a general belief that circumstances will be different than in the past.
So, what has changed? Los Angeles is a market that is already saturated with professional sports teams. Between the Lakers and Clippers in the NBA, the Dodgers and Angels in MLB (though TECHNICALLY they’re in Anaheim), and the Kings in the NHL, there are already five professional franchises residing in the city, and that is before considering the up-and-coming MLS Galaxy team and the WNBA’s Sparks. With the traditional success that is seen by the Lakers, Dodgers, and Angels (sorry Clippers, Galaxy, Sparks, and Kings fans), this new NFL franchise will be competing against those teams for local support, since their seasons all overlap.
Could a new NFL franchise, which is being relocated because it has already failed as an organization in its current market, really expect to steal fans away from the Dodgers and Angles in September and October, or in November and beyond when Kobe Bryant and the Lakers (LA’s most beloved franchise) are ready to take the court? Take into account that at least one of LA’s baseball teams competes annually for the postseason, the likelihood of stealing fans from them in the early part of the season is very slim. As for basketball season, nobody will steal fans away from the Lakers, who are undeniably the kings of LA sports. When considering whether or not a new NFL franchise would be able to draw a large enough fan base, history tells us that it would not.
If the new NFL team would be an unlikely draw big numbers locally, does the NFL have reason to believe that this newly relocated team could achieve national appeal? Let’s not forget that the NFL operates with a policy of revenue sharing, and under that system a team with a national fan base is just as valuable (if not more valuable) as teams with a successful local following. Let’s consider what it would take for the LA team to draw national attention – WINNING!
The NFL has made it well known that their criteria for scheduling nationally televised games is to broadcast the most compelling games of the week. Basically, those games which will have postseason implications will get the national spotlight.
That means that the new LA team (a team which failed so miserably at its last location that it was actually granted the right to move) would have to undergo an entire rebuilding process and actually become a winning organization in order to gain that national relevance required to earn those coveted national spotlight games. Take it from a Cleveland Browns fan – rebuilding is not as easy as it sounds!
When you consider all of those factors, and then look back on the previously failed experiments that were Los Angeles based NFL teams, it does not appear that enough change in business conditions has occurred to make this newest test a successful one.
(I’d like to say thank you to George, Shirley, and the entire Gemberling family for having Family Bleacher Fan up to their Lake Michigan home this week! The family very much appreciates your gracious hospitality for allowing us to stay at your BEAUTIFUL Lake Michigan home!)
Well, I am a die-hard Raiders fan! I like playing in Oakland and I actually don’t want them to even change the stadium they’re in now. I like when opponents come into our stadium and they think it looks old school. It’s not supposed to be a pleasant atmosphere to come into. LA is all about show. It’s not a passionate football city. People want to do other things out there than watch a football game.
Are you the dude that dresses up like Darth Vader?
Good point about LA being about show (though someone forgot to tell LAX… what a craphole that is.). But, do you think that USC fans lack passion?
I can concur from personal experience that LAX is a dump!
So, Mike, you are saying LA has a bunch of “whine and cheese” fans?