League Moves to Stop Any Moves to L.A.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been ordered by NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue to immediately cease all talks with Hollywood Park. One word could cost them $500,000.

Tagliabue, reacting to recent negotiations, has set up a major financial roadblock to keep all teams from exploring the Los Angeles-area market until Jan. 1, 1997 at the earliest.

The memorandum, which prohibits all teams from discussing potential moves, will particularly affect the Indianapolis Colts, who have had an interest in exploring the Hollywood Park opportunity, and the Arizona Cardinals, who have been looking for a new home.

The Los Angeles Coliseum, which recently received a $100,000 endorsement from city organizations, including the city council, to begin marketing the facility to NFL owners, would appear to no longer have an audience.

“It certainly makes life more difficult,” said Pat Lynch, Coliseum general manager. “I’m sure teams are going to be very cautious about what they do and when they do it.”

The memorandum, which had been under consideration for some time according to NFL officials, surfaced this week because of the league’s mounting concern that Hollywood Park and Tampa Bay were closing in on a deal to bring the team here in time for the 1998 season should the Buccaneers lose a September referendum in Tampa calling for a tax increase to build a new stadium.

“We’re waiting to see what comes out of talks between [the Buccaneers’ owner] and Tagliabue,” a Hollywood Park spokesman said. “As for further comment, we’re through taking out billboards and blowing up hotels and what not. Our position is we have millions to invest, and if someone is looking to bring a team here, we’re still willing to do it. But like dozens of the other situations that have preceded this, everything is out of our control.”

Buccaneer management reacted angrily to Tagliabue’s edict in a meeting with NFL officials Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C., according to those in attendance. It is unclear at this time whether the team will challenge Tagliabue’s directive and continue to explore Hollywood Park. A Buccaneer spokesman said the team’s management does not give interviews.

In an earlier agreement crafted by the Buccaneers, the NFL and Tampa, the team was given permission to seek a backup deal to move if the vote to build a new stadium fails. The Buccaneers contend that agreement entitles them to pursue Los Angeles as a new home. Tagliabue said the team will be allowed to explore moving opportunities in Osceola County or the nearby Orlando area, but has informed Malcolm Glazer, owner of the Buccaneers, that Los Angeles is now off limits.

By previous agreement, the NFL must secure a team for Cleveland to begin play in 1999 and must announce sometime in 1997 whether that team will arrive via expansion or relocation. The NFL has targeted Tampa as a potential candidate for Cleveland should the Buccaneers lose their September referendum, as is expected.

At the very least the NFL does not want Tampa striking a maverick deal with anyone in Los Angeles without NFL involvement and approval. The NFL, which put a stop to the Seattle Seahawks’ plans to corner the Los Angeles-area market earlier this year, has once again asserted the precedent-setting position that it will determine how and when football returns to the area.

Roger Goodell, the league’s senior vice president for league development, will be in Los Angeles today and tomorrow to meet separately with Dodger owner Peter O’Malley, Hollywood Park officials, Disney Sports Enterprises President Tony Tavares, representatives interested in a Los Angeles Convention Center site for a football stadium and with a new group interested in talking about a football site near 190th and Western Avenue in Los Angeles.

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There was a time in recent months when Bud Adams couldn’t wait to get out of Houston and claim a promised pot of gold in Nashville.

Now, the Houston Oiler owner thinks he may have to extend his NFL team’s stay in Houston through 1999, a year beyond the term of his Astrodome lease.

“I’m not ruling anything out,” Adams told the Houston Chronicle and Houston television station KRIV from Charlotte.

“What if we were the Super Bowl champions and they didn’t want us to leave? That’s something we might have to look at if we don’t get in our new stadium on time.”

A roadblock to his planned Nashville move is a delay in construction of a new stadium in the Tennessee city.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.