Ovitz Gives L.A. Better Field Position

Oct. 27, 1998.

It has become a meaningful date, and for a moment setting aside four years of “nothing new” in the pursuit of returning the NFL to Los Angeles, the process officially begins Oct. 27, 1998, in Kansas City.

Despite foreboding news from Commissioner Paul Tagliabue in an interview this week that the city of Houston will probably satisfy 100% of the NFL’s requirements to win stadium approval and potentially grab the last expansion opportunity for many years to come, Tagliabue has set up circumstances to save the day for Los Angeles.

Tagliabue has invited Michael Ovitz and his showmanship, and politely has included the New Coliseum Partners to step before all 31 owners in an unprecedented meeting to demonstrate L.A.’s interest in the NFL.

“I have no doubt the interest is there,” said Tagliabue, speaking about L.A.’s football fans. “The one thing that’s been missing is a specific idea about their own team that is concrete and has some sense of immediacy about it. Once you get that, it will be like a spark and the interest will emerge.”

Given the wide-ranging opinion of NFL owners about the Los Angeles market after the departure of the Rams and Raiders, this becomes a tremendous opportunity to formulate opinions, win favor and gain momentum for the return of football.

Houston will also make its presentation, which will include a city-county partnership with local businessman Bob McNair and $200 million in public funds for a new stadium. Houston lacks only one key ingredient: It is not L.A.

Ovitz is pushing hard, but significantly at the same time is working in concert with NFL officials for a response as early as November. NFL owners would consider that timetable far-fetched at this time, but Ovitz now has the chance to change their minds in Kansas City.

Ovitz has already got the league thinking about moving more quickly, responding positively to a recent NFL question: Could you begin play as soon as 2001 even though your stadium wouldn’t be completed until 2002?

The NFL is going to have a 32nd team, and for the first time, Tagliabue acknowledged that when the league did its TV contracts and negotiating to extend the collective bargaining agreement, there were considerations given to when the league might expand.

“I think there’s a general assumption that [expansion] may be in the fourth [2001] or fifth year [2002] of the television contract,” Tagliabue said. “We’ve structured our economics in terms of television to make it work that way.”

That would mean the NFL would have to award the 32nd franchise to Houston or Los Angeles sometime in 1999 to allow for the construction of a new stadium to open in 2002.

“That would be optimum,” said Tagliabue, adding it’s possible the league could award a 32nd franchise at the annual owners’ meetings in March. “Is it likely? I couldn’t say, but that’s the kind of discussion we will have in October after these [presenters] leave the room.”

Houston, like Ovitz, will ask for a speedy decision, because it appears to have a decisive edge currently over Los Angeles.

“Coming out of that October meeting, Houston is likely to have everything signed, sealed and delivered, and that adds up to 100%,” Tagliabue said. “I think that’s what the Coliseum and Ovitz will face at the meetings, some direct questions: OK, we see the concept, see the estimates of cost and funding, but how close are you to having signatures so you can go to closing? That in turn will affect the timeline.”

That makes the task very clear for Ovitz and the Coliseum: They must be impressive and substantive in their delivery.

If so, Ovitz has something the New Coliseum Partners lack: energy. Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, the big money behind the Coliseum project, is reportedly still alive, although he has not been heard from for more than a year.

Edward Roski has remained consistent in his efforts, but understated and understandably lost for the longest time in devoting more time to the Staples Center. Roski’s front man, John Semcken, has remained on task but has been unable to produce a new ownership partner on the project to generate momentum, something he has promised for months.

The New Coliseum Partners intend to unveil a new financial plan to catch the NFL’s attention, but if they allow Los Angeles Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas to speak, they will need someone else in charge of nudging the owners to remain awake. Ridley-Thomas, deserving all the credit for initiating the New Coliseum project, has become more of a liability now, his droning pitch both tiresome and political.

Ovitz, meanwhile, is putting together a Hollywood video that will be introduced by Jim Hill, former NFL player and current L.A. broadcaster. Plans to bring in planeloads of experts and celebrities have been scotched by the NFL, limiting Ovitz now to his staff, Laker Vice President Jerry West and Bank of America bigwigs, who will show the owners the money.

It would not be a good idea for the Coliseum to follow Ovitz’s act.

He will also unveil sketches of his proposed new stadium, “the Hacienda,” in Los Angeles as a warmup to the October meetings.

Ovitz has ideas, millions of them, but can he get a public contribution from the city of Carson, site of the stadium? Can he satisfy all environmental concerns? Can he raise interest from fans in Los Angeles? Can Ovitz deliver and leap ahead of Houston?

“You go back to where we were in expansion in 1993,” Tagliabue said. “At certain points in time, it looked like Baltimore and St. Louis were way ahead and Jacksonville [and Charlotte] were way behind. St. Louis was building the building, Baltimore had a 100% public financing and Jacksonville didn’t even have a new stadium.

“You can have a similar-type thing here. We’re trying to assess now going into the meeting where we are, and coming out we’ll know more after hearing in-depth presentations. But it doesn’t mean whoever comes out of this meeting leading by a length is going to win in Santa Anita.”

At least he’s thinking about the right city.

“Houston is very attractive,” Tagliabue said. “But L.A. is a mega-city, and it can be the key to how the NFL is presented and perceived and how much excitement it generates on the West Coast, which has roughly 40 million people.

“Los Angeles is as powerful for us as it was when baseball first hit the West Coast, in some sense.”

Four years down the road and three or four more to go, but for the first time there’s a mechanism in place now to make the return of the NFL something real for consideration.

Anything to keep Al Davis and his Raiders from returning.