Hahn: L.A. Will Have NFL Team Within Five Years

Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn, in town for the Super Bowl, said he believes L.A. will have an NFL team within five years.

“I don’t think that’s unrealistic,” he said Sunday morning after a 45-minute meeting with NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. “If we’re going to do it, we need to do it in that time frame.”

Hahn and Tagliabue, who met for the first time this weekend, discussed bringing the NFL back to the Los Angeles area for the first time since the Raiders and Rams left in 1995.

Hahn said he plans to be the point man on the project.

“It may not be on the front burner yet, but it’s not on [the NFL’s] front burner yet either,” he said. “We’re looking at the beginning of the process. They’re committed to getting it done. And I’m committed to getting it done.”

In a news conference Friday, Tagliabue was asked about the league’s interest in returning to L.A., and said, “We want to leave no stone unturned to respond to that interest in the NFL in Los Angeles.”

Hahn said he and Tagliabue did not discuss specific teams that might move--the 32-team league has no plans to expand-- nor did they weigh the merits of potential stadium sites. Hahn is adamant, though, that the stadium should be located in the immediate L.A. area.

In the past, Hahn has supported revamping the Coliseum, even though NFL sources say that does not appeal to the league.

“I don’t want to lock into, ‘You have to play at the Coliseum or we don’t want you,’” Hahn said. “I’m open to the possibility of a stadium somewhere else.”

Hahn planned to watch the Super Bowl with members of his staff and Roger Goodell, the NFL’s chief operating officer who oversees franchise and stadium issues.

Beyond the obvious, the real benefit of bringing an NFL team to L.A. is the opportunity to play host to Super Bowls--the league’s ultimate bargaining chip--which pump an estimated $350 million into local economies. L.A. would have landed a Super Bowl every three years had it beaten out Houston for the 32nd franchise.

Super Bowl sites have been determined through 2006, when the game will be played at Ford Field in Detroit. Tagliabue has said the game might be played in New York and/or Washington after that as part of the relief efforts.

“We have a bigger number of cities and states competing for Super Bowls,” Tagliabue said. “And the idea that there would be a limited number of Super Bowl locations, focusing perhaps on Miami, New Orleans, and Southern California, I think it’s passe.”

Before L.A. talks teams and stadiums, Hahn wants the NFL to further enhance its image in Southern California by putting more emphasis on youth programs in the area. That could help spark interest in a generation that has little or no memory of the NFL in L.A.

Even in the face of growing apathy about whether the NFL returns to the area, Hahn said there would be ample support for one.

“Obviously we don’t wither and die without a team,” he said. “But I still think we want one. All those couch potatoes watching on the tube, even if it’s on a big screen, they’d like to have the opportunity to come to a stadium and watch it live.”