L.A., Houston or Inglewood--It’s Time to Choose

A personal (but not very private) appeal from the heart goes out today to Paul Tagliabue, commissioner of the National Football League, and to the majority owners of the 31 existing NFL teams:

Please, put an end to this.

Put us out of our misery or let us back in your league. One way or the other, just do something. We are tired of twisting in the wind like a bad punt.

Make a decision. Flip a coin if you must. Coin tosses are a part of football. They have been since the first known American professional football contest, held in 1895 between the Latrobe YMCA and Jeannetee Athletic Club in a town (Latrobe, Pa.) so small and quiet, it makes Green Bay, Wis., look like midtown Manhattan.

Yes, we do want a team here. Not all of us, but enough of us. We are a very large place, so “enough of us” is a lot.

No, we will not pay for this team out of our own pockets. But we have individuals willing to risk millions, even billions, to bring the national pastime--which is, you know, not baseball--back to the nation’s second-largest market.

You don’t have to play ball with L.A.’s politicians anymore. You don’t need to play in their yard. You do have an alternative other than Texas.

Hollywood Park is here for the taking. Its neighborhood has been a good friend to sports entertainment. It is centrally located and airport convenient. Its flight patterns might interfere with TV’s blimp, but trust us here . . . we’ve all seen the view from the blimp. We can get along without it for a day.

So stop dawdling. Choose.

*

Do you like Mike Ovitz? Do you trust him? If you do, give him the ball and let him run with it. He’s our guy now. It’s Ovitz or it’s over.

He has partners with deep pockets. He has made expensive presentations. He pitched you a Carson storyboard with a hacienda. You didn’t bite. He pitched a Coliseum blueprint with a waterfall. You didn’t bite. He accepted an uncomfortable modus vivendi to unite with a rival in a joint Los Angeles bid, one for all and all for one. You didn’t bite on that, either.

Chew us up or spit us out. Choose.

You have extended deadlines. You have kept poor Houston frozen like a hunter in a blind, waiting for a duck. You have pressured L.A.’s bidders to keep upping the ante, so that NFL franchises can cut up a new entry fee of $500 million--more if you can get it--the same way they recently cut up Cleveland’s.

Green Bay got an estimated $10-mil slice of that last pie. How much more would each team make--after taxes--if you can squeeze another $50 or $100 million out of L.A. or Houston, divided 31 ways? Enough to pay another left guard? Another supply of Right Guard? Enough to warrant treating L.A. and Houston this way? Like barbarians at the gate who must be able to afford $600 million if they can afford $500 million?

Chew or spit. Choose.

The NFL’s audience in the Los Angeles area has fixated on two points. One is an unwillingness to donate a dime. This is due in part to Americans being sensible with a dollar and fed up with fat cats. It is also due to Americans believing it is a birthright to see NFL games for free, just because they went to an appliance store and bought a TV.

The second point is this “blackout” business. If a hometown team’s game is not sold out, a local audience may lose one of free TV’s featured contests.

Blackouts occurred here because this was a two-team market that divided the business. These were teams that played in worn-out old parks and had worn out their welcomes in each. A brand-new team in a brand-new stadium can easily sell out a 70,000-seat house in a gigantic marketplace for 10 years or more. Easily.

Fans could forget what we wouldn’t have and consider what we would . . . our own team and TV.

*

Ovitz, Ron Burkle and Tom Cruise can address this blackout issue with the public any way they see fit. Perhaps they could guarantee a purchase of all remaining tickets in the 72 hours before each season’s eight home dates.

The super agent, supermarket mogul and superstar are the principal partners representing our last chance for the Los Angeles Superstars (as good a name as any) to be born. Ovitz has been admirable in his persistence. Burkle’s reputation kept Hollywood Park’s interest alive.

NFL mouths remain wide shut.

Your expansion committee meets Tuesday. We have shown you the money. We have shown you the land. Hollywood Park would be a fine choice. Just please . . . choose.

*

Mike Downey’s column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Write to him at Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053. E-mail: mike.downey@latimes.com.