L.A. Holds the Cards in NFL Negotiations

If L.A. employed people with brains we wouldn’t have to constantly protect our pockets from the likes of these NFL schemers.

Here’s what should be happening: NFL officials should submit a request to be allowed to place a team in Los Angeles. They should make an offer as to what they will pay us for the use of the good name of Los Angeles in relation to their not-so-respectable business. In addition to the fee they should pay for the naming rights, they must be prepared to sign a contract guaranteeing at least a 50% won/lost record for the five-year period of the contract for naming the team the Los Angeles “Whatevers.” If at the end of the five years they fail to meet these terms they should be evicted from the city and their facilities put up for auction.

Their stadium is to be built entirely with their funds on land purchased on the open market by them with no assistance from the city other than what the city would provide for any other enterprise. They are to pay the same taxes as any other entertainment business.

The people of this city do not need the NFL; in fact, a significant majority probably would prefer it stay away, Super Bowl or no. We hold all the cards; let’s play them properly and not be chumps again.

And people wonder why Hollywood wants out of L.A.

Bill Bergmann

Hollywood