No Super Bowl for L.A./Pasadena in 1999 or 2000

Los Angeles and Pasadena officials, who were preparing formal bids for either the 1999 or 2000 Super Bowl to be awarded next month, met with NFL officials in New York this week and were advised to withdraw from the process.

The Los Angeles/Pasadena bid to play the game in the Rose Bowl met resistance from NFL officials, who indicated the league is not ready to place the game in a city that does not have an NFL franchise.

The NFL, however, said if efforts to build a new stadium on the Coliseum site come to fruition, Los Angeles will be placed on top of the list for the 2001 Super Bowl.

“If we can make progress on the Coliseum project,” said Neil Austrian, NFL president, “and we probably have a year from now to get the financing in place and know there is a reasonable certainty it’s going to happen, then I would say there is a high likelihood NFL owners would support a Super Bowl being played there in a brand-new Coliseum or the Rose Bowl.”

The Rose Bowl would be considered as a Super Bowl site only in the event there was a delay in completing the construction of a new stadium on the Coliseum site.