GaryMrMets
11-11-2005, 12:37 AM
NFL, Coliseum reach preliminary agreement on return to LA
By JOHN NADEL
.c The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The National Football League and city officials have reached a preliminary agreement on terms to bring a pro gridiron team back to the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue made the announcement Thursday on the steps of City Hall. But he didn't identify a potential tenant or speculate when Los Angeles might get the team.
He also spoke positively about a team playing at a facility proposed for the parking lot of the Major League Baseball's Angel Stadium in Anaheim and didn't rule out the Rose Bowl in Pasadena as a possible home field, either.
As Tagliabue entered a limousine, he was asked if he could assess the significance of what he had just announced. He replied, ``I'd rather not try.''
The commissioner did say: ``It's the first time we've had agreement on term sheets. We're one step closer, two or three steps closer. Whether it's 2009, 2010, or 2000-whatever, our goal is to have definitive agreements on all subject matters well before our league meetings in March.''
The Los Angeles area, the second-largest television market in the country, has been without an NFL team since the Raiders moved from the Coliseum back to Oakland and the Rams moved from Anaheim to St. Louis before the 1995 season.
After announcing plans in the spring of 1999 to put an expansion team in the Coliseum, the NFL was unable to reach an agreement with the Los Angeles backers and instead awarded the 32nd franchise to Houston that October.
11/10/05 20:39 EST
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
By JOHN NADEL
.c The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The National Football League and city officials have reached a preliminary agreement on terms to bring a pro gridiron team back to the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue made the announcement Thursday on the steps of City Hall. But he didn't identify a potential tenant or speculate when Los Angeles might get the team.
He also spoke positively about a team playing at a facility proposed for the parking lot of the Major League Baseball's Angel Stadium in Anaheim and didn't rule out the Rose Bowl in Pasadena as a possible home field, either.
As Tagliabue entered a limousine, he was asked if he could assess the significance of what he had just announced. He replied, ``I'd rather not try.''
The commissioner did say: ``It's the first time we've had agreement on term sheets. We're one step closer, two or three steps closer. Whether it's 2009, 2010, or 2000-whatever, our goal is to have definitive agreements on all subject matters well before our league meetings in March.''
The Los Angeles area, the second-largest television market in the country, has been without an NFL team since the Raiders moved from the Coliseum back to Oakland and the Rams moved from Anaheim to St. Louis before the 1995 season.
After announcing plans in the spring of 1999 to put an expansion team in the Coliseum, the NFL was unable to reach an agreement with the Los Angeles backers and instead awarded the 32nd franchise to Houston that October.
11/10/05 20:39 EST
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.