NFL in L.A. Still Not a Done Deal

The 31 NFL owners were given an hour to vent Monday and now it’s up to Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and the league’s Expansion Committee to unify opinion today with a strong recommendation that Los Angeles be given time to prove itself worthy of an expansion team.

League officials believe they can get a unanimous recommendation from the 14-member committee this morning, which should lay the groundwork for gaining the 24 required votes for league approval later today, although New Orleans Saint owner Thomas Benson, a committee member, has expressed concern about expanding to 32 teams.

Several changes in the league’s resolution to award an expansion franchise were also being considered late Monday in another effort to swing votes in Los Angeles’ direction.

The final resolution to return to Los Angeles is expected to call for league realignment into four-team divisions within each conference to please Benson and Pittsburgh Steeler owner Dan Rooney.

There was also discussion about the league limiting Los Angeles to only six months, rather than the 10 previously discussed, to marshal its efforts, or else shift attention to Houston, the other applicant.

The league is concerned that a shorter period might jeopardize the possibilities for success in Los Angeles, but if announcing a return to Los Angeles today, it may ask Michael Ovitz to shift his influence and attention from his Carson site to the New Coliseum project, joining Eli Broad and Ed Roski.

In another move that will benefit Los Angeles, the NFL passed an unprecedented resolution Monday to provide up to half of the private funding for a new stadium so long as there is some public money tied to construction.

Los Angeles’ inability to cobble as impressive a package as presented by Houston’s Bob McNair is giving the owners concern and raising the question if it’s time now to consider Los Angeles. It’s the hope of league officials, however, that an impressive show of unity from the Expansion Committee will earn the confidence of other owners.

“Everybody has to have a little blind faith here to make this work,” said Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboy owner.

Jones told his fellow owners in closed session that there are more questions than answers right now as they contemplate awarding a team to Los Angeles, and maybe it’s best that the league endorse the return to Los Angeles while not shutting the door on the return of the Raiders or removing the expansion opportunity from Houston.

“Maybe we express a preference without committing to an expansion team,” Jones said. “I think it’s time to let the cream come to the top. Who steps forward to make it work in Los Angeles?

“Is [Raider owner] Al Davis compromised by this? He probably is, but we might be doing Al a favor too, by bringing some urgency to the process. Maybe he goes into action and makes some decisions without more litigation being involved.”

Davis has sued the city of Oakland for release from his lease and has sued the league, claiming he owns the rights to the Los Angeles market.

An announcement stopping short of giving Los Angeles a guarantee of an expansion team might not only appease Jones and Davis, which would still allow the possible return of the Raiders, but satisfy those owners who want to keep Houston motivated, should Los Angeles fail to finance a stadium and provide a qualified owner.

Davis, asked by the chair of Monday’s owners’ meeting, the Carolina Panthers’ Jerry Richardson, if he had anything to add to the discussion about Los Angeles, laughed, and paraphrasing, said he had tried to tell the owners four years ago when he moved how difficult it is to find a satisfying solution in Los Angeles.

San Diego Charger owner Alex Spanos, who might have a vested interest in keeping another team out of his Southern California market, was the most outspoken in support of Houston, saying, “Houston’s ready. What has L.A. done to deserve us going back there?”

Several members of the Expansion Committee supported the awarding of an expansion team to Los Angeles, but there were several objections from other owners, recalling previous trips to Raider games, about returning to the Coliseum.

After an hour of discussion, the owners adjourned with the expectation that debate will continue today after the Expansion Committee’s recommendation.

“We don’t have 24 votes for anything right now,” said Richardson, adding that the only thing the league has right now “is a difficult situation.”

Tagliabue, however, is expected to apply his influence today and maintained that the owners will leave this annual meeting with a selection between Houston and Los Angeles.

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STILL AT BAY: Exiled San Francisco 49er owner Eddie DeBartolo today will formally be suspended for the 1999 NFL season. Page 2