Goodell Schedules Talks on Stadiums

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will be in Southern California on Friday and has scheduled separate meetings with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle to discuss the future of pro football in the region.

The league, which has not had a team in the nation’s No. 2 market since the 1994 season, is considering a pair of stadium concepts: a rebuilt Coliseum, and a new venue in the northwest corner of the Angels Stadium parking lot.

“We’ve had great dialogue in the last couple of years with the leadership” in Los Angeles and Anaheim “both on the public-sector side and the private-sector side to figure out how to do it successfully,” Goodell said last month.

“We know there are hundreds of thousands, millions of fans out in Southern California who want to see football back in Los Angeles. But they want to see it done properly.”

-- Sam Farmer

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Chris Simms was released from a Tampa, Fla., hospital over the weekend, less than a week after undergoing surgery to remove a ruptured spleen.

The fourth-year pro was injured during a loss to Carolina on Sept. 24. Doctors expect Simms to make a full recovery, which normally takes six weeks, and the Buccaneers have not ruled out his return this season.

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Arizona Coach Dennis Green called the Cardinals’ most recent offensive performance “ludicrous” and seemed excited about starting rookie quarterback Matt Leinart next weekend against Kansas City over mistake-prone Kurt Warner after Sunday’s 32-10 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

“He’s a guy that had an incredible career in college,” Green said of Leinart. “I think he’s worked hard to try to learn and understand the pro game, and I think he’s ready to play.”

Leinart inherits an offense that ranks 24th in the NFL, 30th in rushing.

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Baltimore Ravens offensive guard Edwin Mulitalo will sit out the rest of the season because of torn right triceps that will require surgery, Coach Brian Billick said. Mulitalo was hurt Sunday.

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The Cleveland Browns waived offensive lineman Alonzo Ephraim after he finished serving a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

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The Minnesota Vikings said they will move Sunday’s afternoon game against Detroit at the Metrodome to Monday night if the Twins’ baseball playoff series against Oakland goes to a decisive fifth game at the stadium.

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The Seattle Seahawks’ charter plane made an unscheduled stop late Sunday night in Rapid City, S.D., to get precautionary medical care for Ray Rhodes, a special defensive assistant.

The exact nature of Rhodes’ situation was not disclosed. Rhodes, 55, had a stroke in September 2005.

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Coach Tony Dungy said the Indianapolis Colts plan to send a small group, including quarterback Peyton Manning, to today’s funeral in Louisiana for receiver Reggie Wayne’s brother, Rashad, who died Sept. 24 in an automobile crash in Kenner, La.