Tagliabue Puts L.A. on a 100-Year Plan

In a refrain that should sound familiar, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Friday that the league wants to be back in Los Angeles within this decade.

“We want to get back there,” Tagliabue said in his annual Super Bowl news conference. “Whether it’s ’08 or ‘09, it’s going to be an unacceptably long period of time out of L.A. What matters to me is we get this right for a hundred years. ... What I really want is to get it done within this decade, not to have it go into another decade.

“And when we do it, I want it to be something that the fans in L.A., the business community in L.A., the leadership of that community, and the leadership of the NFL will be very proud of because it will be a great thing, and that it stays there and is very successful for 50 to 100 years.”

Several sources familiar with the negotiations say the Coliseum is close to agreeing to a “term sheet,” the framework of a potential lease agreement, with the league. NFL executives working on the L.A. stadium situation are hoping to have four signed term sheets -- from the Coliseum, Rose Bowl, Carson and Anaheim -- to present to team owners in May. That would give owners the chance to choose which venue option to pursue.

“Assuming we do that,” Tagliabue said, “we’ll move on to the question of what team do we send there, is it an expansion team or a relocated team? But I think we’re making real progress. ... It’s becoming a reality in terms of how close we are to signing off on some term sheets on one or more projects.”

L.A. City Councilman Bernard Parks, among the point men for the Coliseum project, said he’s encouraged that representatives of the stadium have gotten a consistent message from the league the last two years. “As we’ve shown progress, they’ve shown interest,” he said.

Among those interested in wooing the league are Pat Lynch, general manager of the Coliseum, and Michael Ovitz, who in the past has touted a Carson stadium. Both men have been in Jacksonville this week.

The Rose Bowl has completed the preliminary stage of its environmental impact report, and the documents are now in a 45-day public review period.

“We’re pleased,” said Darryl Dunn, general manager of the Rose Bowl. “We’re on schedule and we’re looking forward to having a certified EIR by May.”

Tagliabue also said the league is considering the possibility of:

* Launching a new network to televise games.

* Playing one or more regular-season games outside the U.S.

* Holding exhibition games in China leading up to the 2008 Olympics.

The league extended its television deals with Fox and CBS in November, but negotiations with Disney-owned ABC and ESPN have stalled. ABC has “Monday Night Football,” ESPN a weekly Sunday night game.

“We’re giving very serious consideration to launching another major sports network on satellite or cable TV,” Tagliabue said. He did not elaborate.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.