NFL Would Join Crowded Field

The sports industry in Southern California has boomed since the NFL left town more than a decade ago, according to a study released this week.

As NFL owners edge toward deciding whether to return to Los Angeles or Anaheim, the study provided economic statistics to support the longtime stance of officials in both cities: We’d love to have you, but we don’t need you.

“Los Angeles doesn’t want a team because they need to boost a sagging economy. We think it would be a nice addition to the city,” said Alan Rothenberg, chairman of the Los Angeles Sports Council, the nonprofit group that commissioned the study and which promotes local sports teams and tries to attract events to Southern California.

With that position forcing the NFL to pay for its stadium -- about $800 million, either to renovate the Coliseum or build from scratch in the Angel Stadium parking lot -- owners must decide which location offers the best chance to make that money back, and more.

Rothenberg, who chaired the 1994 World Cup and 1999 Women’s World Cup, said owners could “absolutely” command more money for luxury seats and suites in Los Angeles than in Anaheim. But, by buying 53 acres in Anaheim and developing the land surrounding the football stadium, Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle said the NFL could make money there “365 days a year.”

Los Angeles Sports Council President David Simon, noting the growth in population and income since the Rams and Raiders left, said he did not believe an NFL team would cannibalize attendance or revenue from other teams and events in town.

“This area can absorb two NFL teams and then some,” Simon said. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said last week that the league’s immediate focus was to put one team in the L.A. area, but that in the future two teams in the region might be possible.

While some corporate dollars spent on suites and sponsorships might shift from other teams and events to an NFL team, the NFL might well attract companies previously uninterested in sports, said David Carter, executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute.

“Corporations still clamor for the NFL,” he said.

In 1994, the Rams left Anaheim and the Raiders left Los Angeles. Yet the local sports industry has thrived in their absence, according to comparisons between the initial Sports Council study and the newest one.

In 1993, Southland teams, events and venues generated $930,000 in revenue, attracted 19.4 million fans and employed 1,716 full-time workers and 12,857 part-time workers.

By 2005, fueled in part by the opening of California Speedway, Staples Center and Home Depot Center, record crowds at Angel Stadium and near-record crowds at Dodger Stadium, Southland sports generated $1.7 billion in revenue, attracted 28.6 million fans and employed 3,135 full-time workers and 13,267 part-time workers.

“We do very well without football,” said David Fleming, vice chairman of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. “We can do better with football.”