Football or <i>fútbol</i>?

Today, Sanders and Schmidt discuss soccer’s growing popularity in Los Angeles. Previous, they USC’s proposal to control the Coliseum, the future of L.A.’s relationship with the NFL after local elections this year, and whether it’s worth spending public money on bringing a pro football team to the city.

There’s room for soccer and football
By Barry A. Sanders

It is not a case of “either, or.” In Los Angeles, there is room for everything we want to do and see. The demand for National Football League games and other forms of American football in our city is enormous. The USC Trojans fill our stadium with 92,000 fans every home game. Whether in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum or elsewhere, the NFL would do very well and serve our public by meeting an existing, pent-up demand.

At the same time, we can celebrate and cater to the large and ever-growing appeal of soccer in our community. We have two Major League Soccer teams playing at Home Depot Center. Our parks are occupied daily with thousands of youngsters and adults playing soccer. The Coliseum already serves soccer fans who turn out in great numbers for major international games. In the last year and a half the Coliseum hosted big crowds for Chivas vs. Galaxy, Mexico vs. Guatemala, Mexico vs. South Korea and Barcelona vs. Chivas (along with Chivas USA vs. New England Revolution.) The Barcelona vs. Chivas game drew an all-time Coliseum soccer attendance record of 92,650. On Feb. 6, Argentina will play Guatemala at the Coliseum. Be there!

Barry A. Sanders is an international corporate lawyer, member of the Coliseum Commission, president of the L.A. City Recreation and Parks Commission, chairman of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games and an adjunct professor of communications studies at UCLA.

What pro soccer could be
By Scott Olin Schmidt

Barry is 100% correct that this is not a question of “either, or” when it comes to football versus fútbol in Los Angeles. One of the theses we’ve discussed this week has been that Los Angeles is a large and diverse city that can have 32 “home teams” in one sport — a point underscored Thursday in The Times’ Calendar section.

Even as Los Angeles’ demographics change, this city should remain a destination for the NFL and a capital of Major League Soccer, with both the Galaxy and Chivas USA. We may not have an NFL team, but Los Angeles Galaxy is now a global brand; there are very few teams whose jerseys are on sale in London, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and San Francisco, but ours is one of them thanks to the arrival of David Beckham.

I personally think, however, that the MLS made its greatest mistake back in the 1990s when it decided to put the Galaxy at the Rose Bowl instead of the Coliseum. That move sent the message that they were going after the suburban family demographic, while they could have probably sold out the Coliseum early on had they nurtured the fútbol-loving community near the stadium.

Speaking of the Coliseum, following our debate on Wednesday, I got a call from State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, who made a point to express his frustration with the Coliseum Commission’s pursuit of the NFL pipe dream. The specter of the NFL has contributed to the delay in negotiations with USC, he said, and a deal should be completed sooner rather than later.

Los Angeles has already lost the Chargers, Rams, Raiders and even UCLA football to other cities. If we dare think that the NFL would want to come to Los Angeles, we can’t run off the USC Trojans too!

Scott Olin Schmidt covers Pac 10 football for AOL Sports’ FanHouse and politics at Spot-on.com. He is a transportation commissioner for the city of West Hollywood, where he operates his new media outreach consulting firm, RSC Partners.