Talking a Good Game

The population of Los Angeles County increased by 136,800 in 2003.

To all those newcomers, it may seem to be earthshaking news that the NFL has added Anaheim to its list of prospective stadium sites for a new or relocated pro football team -- stiff competition for the Coliseum, Rose Bowl and Carson.

For people who have paid even casual attention to this saga, though, it’s just another twist in a long and winding road.

It has been almost a decade since the Raiders and Rams left Southern California, and there’s no evidence that the NFL is any closer to putting a team here than it was in, say, 1996. Yes, the league has applied structure to the stadium derby by giving the competing sites a 10-month timeline to put prospective deals together. And, yes, there’s additional pressure to put a team in the nation’s second-largest market because the NFL’s television contracts expire after the 2005 season.

But a sampling of the failed dreams and designs of the last decade -- reasonable plans by powerful business leaders -- show that the L.A. puzzle is a lot more complicated than it might appear. Anyone who thinks a simple solution is in the works should take a drive down this highway of headaches:

* “If the Hollywood deal falls apart, then everyone is back to square one, and we’re right back in the picture.”

-- Jack Lindquist, former president of Disneyland and a leader in the move to return pro football to Anaheim (May 1995)

* “Until there is a resolution to the stadium problem, I don’t think anything is going to happen in L.A. Nobody is going to go in there and play in Anaheim, the Rose Bowl or the Coliseum.”

-- Pat Bowlen, Denver Bronco owner (September 1995)

* “It’s going to happen; we have the only alternative to bring football back to L.A.”

-- R.D. Hubbard, businessman, on building a stadium at Hollywood Park (January 1996)

* “I think we have an excellent chance of being selected by the NFL.”

-- Peter O’Malley, then president of the Dodgers, on building a football stadium at Chavez Ravine (January 1996)

* “I’m meeting with HOK, the designers and builders of new stadiums, and although we don’t know for sure where we will be, we’re coming.”

-- Ken Behring, former owner of the Seattle Seahawks, on moving to L.A. (February 1996)

* “I’m not abandoning Anaheim, but it certainly won’t happen there first. In the short term, the NFL seems determined to put a team in metropolitan Los Angeles, and Hollywood Park provides the fastest possible solution.”

-- Agent Leigh Steinberg, the leader of the ill-fated “Save the Rams” campaign (June 1996)

* “I don’t know if there’s a great deal of support for the old Coliseum as the stadium they use in L.A. They’re campaigning for it, but they’re not getting a lot of attention.”

-- Bowlen (October 1997)

* “It’s going to happen. The [NFL] knows we’re not going to go away.”

-- Developer Ed Roski on a rebuilt Coliseum (October 1997)

* “Let’s bring a team back, but let’s only do it when we make the Coliseum the state-of-the-art stadium for all of football in the National Football League.”

-- Neil Austrian, former president of the NFL, after taking a helicopter tour of the Coliseum (May 1998)

* “I thought all along this was the right place. But I think Los Angeles messed up in this process, and I think the NFL messed up. And now I don’t think we will have a football team in Los Angeles for a long time.”

-- Hubbard (October 1999)

* “I’m convinced that this is the place to support. If we don’t do it now, then when?”

-- Shel Ausman, businessman who teamed with retired Arco chairman Lowdrick M. Cook to propose a first South Park stadium project (August 1996)

* “A year ago, they didn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel, they didn’t see any ‘there’ there at the Coliseum. Now they say, ‘We’re interested in the Coliseum if you do this, this and this.’ ”

-- Steven Soboroff, a senior advisor to then-Mayor Richard Riordan (September 1996)

* “I’ve been in most of the NFL stadiums, so I can truly say that Irvine is a prime site.”

-- Anthony Davis, former USC and L.A. Ram running back (June 1998)

* “I’ve seen the plans, and they’re great, with an arena right beside the highway, a free museum between the arena and mall and a place where families can come 365 days a year.”

-- Shaquille O’Neal on his decision to team with Michael Ovitz to push a stadium in Carson (September 1998)

* “It’s in my selfish best interests to have the National Football League trademark in Los Angeles, a beautiful city that I both admire and respect.”

-- Jerry Richardson, Carolina Panther owner (April 1999)

* “The reality is, Los Angeles had their chance. They had an opportunity. It went to Houston. That’s it. Thirty-two teams. There aren’t going to be more than 32 teams in my lifetime. So I don’t know. The train rolled by, and they didn’t get on.”

-- Richardson (March 2002)

* “Things were good when we finished the [Staples] arena, and they’re about to get better.”

-- Jan Perry, L.A. councilwoman, in support of the downtown stadium project that folded weeks later (May 2002)

* “Trying to put a new dress on an old hooker is not the way I want to go dancing.”

-- Art Modell, former owner of the Baltimore Ravens, on the prospects of a rebuilt Coliseum (June 2002)

* “I’m not worried about being in competition with a toxic dump.”

-- Bill Thomson, Rose Bowl Operating Co. member and former Pasadena mayor, on comparisons with the Carson site (May 2003)

* “Hopefully, that sends a message that we’re alive and kicking. We want the NFL to keep an open ear because we think our site will ultimately be quicker, easier and more affordable to build than the others.”

-- Pat Lynch, general manager of the Coliseum (May 2003)

Back in 1999, when L.A. was angling for an expansion team, Riordan said. “We’re at first and goal in our drive to bring the NFL back to Los Angeles.”

Well, it’s five years later, and we have yet to reach the end zone.

And they say baseball is slow.