Expansion Meeting Canceled

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue informed NFL teams Thursday that Tuesday’s special meeting of league owners in Atlanta, which had been scheduled to award the 32nd franchise to either Houston or Los Angeles, has been canceled.

The NFL’s expansion committee still will meet Tuesday morning in Atlanta for further discussion regarding Houston and Los Angeles with the expectation they will make a formal recommendation at the owners’ annual meetings in Phoenix beginning March 15.

The expansion committee is considering four options:

* Awarding an expansion franchise to Eli Broad, Ed Roski and the New Coliseum;

* Michael Ovitz and the city of Carson;

* Bob McNair and the city of Houston;

* Agree as a league to fund a new stadium in the Los Angeles area, which would be sold along with an expansion franchise to the highest bidder.

If the league considers any of the first three options, it would have to set an expansion franchise price, which has yet to be discussed.

More than likely, the expansion committee will narrow its choices to two options, with insiders suggesting the committee will recommend the league choose between Houston’s offer and the NFL’s plan to fund the construction of a new stadium in the Los Angeles area at a site to be determined.

If the league ultimately settles on the funding plan, which it used effectively in returning football to Cleveland, that would leave Broad, Roski and Ovitz standing in line as potential bidders for the stadium and the new team, which will begin play in 2002.