DEFLATED : Houston Gets Team, so What’s Next for L.A.? And Does Anyone Care?

That does it, right?

The NFL’s 32nd team will play in Houston. Period. A stadium will be built and personal seat licenses will be sold.

Good.

If no expansion team is coming to Los Angeles, everyone involved will be better off now that it’s stated, on the record, for all to see.

No more updates, no more speculation.

And Mayor Riordan, don’t even think about taking calls from the Oakland Raiders, Arizona Cardinals or any other team unhappy with its stadium situation and looking for a little leverage. We don’t want them.

It would have been nice to have a team here. Not thrilling, not necessary, just nice. But watching the NFL drag out the process, set false deadlines and make empty proclamations grew tiring. The rewards didn’t justify the public money the NFL owners demanded, nor did they justify the obstacle course the bidders were forced to run.

All of the meetings, jabbering and posturing were frustrating. And for what? Nothing. The only reason the owners didn’t snatch up Robert McNair’s Texas-sized money a year ago was because the prevailing forces wanted to be in L.A. So they put everyone through this laborious process and still wound up without a team in the nation’s second-largest television market.

Give Ed Roski credit for running the race long before it was trendy, give Michael Ovitz credit for all of the fancy moves he put on as they drew near the finish line. Give both of their groups a smack for sticking to their own interests instead of uniting to present an offer that could have topped McNair’s $700-million bid.

Because they decided to remain separate, it’s hard to criticize any single financial backer for not wanting to part with $1 billion for a team and stadium.

On the other hand, it’s easy to find fault with the NFL owners for prolonging this charade when ultimately the only thing that mattered was who put up the most money.

Back in March, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said the Coliseum would be the site of the league’s 32nd team and gave a Sept. 15 deadline to get a suitable financial package in place. So why were the owners entertaining a pitch for a Hollywood Park stadium in the first week of October? Because the whole thing was a sham, one in which the NFL overestimated the value of its product.

Oh, they got the money part right. That’s what they know best. But while walking around with their sense of self-importance they erred in their judgment of a football team’s impact on the city.

For all the millions of dollars being discussed, the only number that would matter on a yearly basis was eight. Eight home games a year was the practical annual impact on the city and its sports fans.

This isn’t like baseball, which offers 81 games and much more affordable prices. The “NFL Experience” would affect a relatively small slice of the population whose pockets were deep enough to buy tickets.

Eight times a year.

Playoff games would not be a practical reality for a few years. Exhibition games wouldn’t matter--the team would charge its season-ticket holders just the same, but they wouldn’t matter.

OK, with a team in town to follow there would be more to talk about.

Here’s what you’ll miss discussing: training camp holdouts, quarterback controversies between two guys who won’t make anyone forget Joe Montana, injuries to tight ends and weeks of debate leading up to the draft before the team selects some middle linebacker from a school that has never made an appearance on television.

Any regrets? And do you really think anyone would be talking about the football team in October if the Dodgers happened to reach the playoffs? Or in November the week of the UCLA-USC game?

Yes, I wanted an NFL team in Los Angeles, but only for selfish professional reasons. When you’re in the sportswriting business, the more teams to write about, the better.

Those motives aside, I bet I echo the sentiments of most L.A. residents when I say I won’t mind having a full plate of games on network television every Sunday, without being stuck watching the local team no matter what, without having to worry about a TV blackout if the home games didn’t sell out.

The only real loss to the city is missing out on Super Bowls and the millions of dollars they bring.

But the Staples Center can help compensate for that. It already has lured the Democratic National Convention and the Grammy Awards, with events such as the NCAA tournament regional finals sure to follow.

And now that the Rose Bowl is a part of the bowl championship series it will host college football’s “national championship” game once every four years.

If there is a way to enhance the city’s image through sports, there is a better solution than the NFL. It’s one the city has experienced before, with much more positive results.

I’m thinking back to a two-week sports event whose impact can still be felt in some parts of town more than 15 years later.

It provided some of the best times this city has ever known.

It spawned an annual arts festival that eventually brought Cirque du Soleil, among others, to Los Angeles for the first time.

It brought a huge financial windfall.

If politicians and businessmen really want to renovate the Coliseum and make it a centerpiece for the city, put a track oval back in there and get to work on bringing the Olympic Games back to L.A.

Whether it’s International Olympic Committee members or NFL owners, the solution is to buy them off. The only difference is the NFL asks for its compensation on the table, not under it.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.