Mayor Says Time Is Right

The momentum to bring an NFL team back to Los Angeles for the first time since 1994 gained a powerful endorsement Tuesday when L.A. Mayor James Hahn formally backed the Coliseum as the logical home venue for a team.

Hahn, who two years ago backed the concept of a new stadium to be built in South Park, for the first time threw his support behind the Coliseum.

“The Coliseum certainly is in a great position at this point, having completed their environmental documents,” Hahn said.

The NFL put the nation’s second-largest market back on its front-burner last week when Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said the league would decide on an L.A.-area stadium site by next spring -- the league is also considering stadium concepts at the Rose Bowl and in Carson -- in hopes of putting a team in L.A. by 2008.

Hahn, who Tuesday spoke to Roger Goodell, the league’s point man on stadium issues, said he’s cautiously optimistic about the NFL’s target of 2008.

“I don’t want to get my heart broken again,” Hahn said. “I can’t believe they’d want to wait any longer than that. They’ve been out of this market for too long.... If the NFL isn’t careful, they’re going to miss a whole generation of people growing up in Los Angeles who don’t have a team to root for.”

That the Coliseum has a completed environmental-impact report puts it at least a year ahead of the Carson and Rose Bowl proposals. The NFL last month took the unusual step of generating a term sheet, the framework of a deal, and presenting it to Coliseum officials. The Coliseum Commission, which holds its monthly meeting today, is expected to respond to the document by mid-June.

Pat Lynch, general manager of the Coliseum, said its significant to get the endorsement of the mayor, especially in light of the fractured message coming from L.A. in years past.

“It’s fantastic,” Lynch said. “It solidifies all of our political muscle, from supervisors to the city council to our state elected officials and now the mayor. That really demonstrates great political unity. This is one voice.”

In early 2002, Hahn strongly supported the efforts of a high-powered coalition of businessmen to build an NFL stadium adjacent to Staples Center. That group, which had the backing of Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz and included L.A. Avenger owner Casey Wasserman, abandoned its plans after a few months and cited stepped-up efforts by the Coliseum as one of the reasons. The Anschutz coalition said they didn’t want to get into a bidding war to bring the NFL back.

For Hahn, it was a painful reminder of the difficulty of solving the L.A. stadium dilemma.

“I was a little disappointed, to tell you the truth,” he said. “I really thought from everything I was picking up from the NFL and others that they were very excited about a new stadium being built in downtown Los Angeles. It could have had a real revitalization effect for downtown.

“Sometimes here in Los Angeles, we wind up doing it to ourselves. The critics start coming out of the woodwork. I can understand why Mr. Anschutz, who basically wanted to do something for Los Angeles, said, ‘Look, if I’m going to have to deal with litigation and critics and everything else, I’ll go where people want me.’ ”

Within the past year, Tim Leiweke, the president of Anschutz Entertainment Group who led the charge for a new stadium, has come out in support of the Coliseum.

While reiterating his stance that no public money should be used to build a stadium, Hahn said he can help move along the process.

“Nobody’s really asking taxpayers to foot the bill here because the NFL thinks it can be financed privately,” he said. “What our office can do is facilitate. If there’s any permitting that needs to be done, we can streamline that. We can help build public support. But I’m pleased they’re not asking for public money.”