Caution: LA is coming to steal your NFL team in 2011

[KenFSU]

Though I would certainly argue that expansion has really hurt the quality of play in the NBA, MLB, and NHL, it's a shame the NFL can't just make a one-time exception for LA. From a business standpoint, the NFL really does need a team out there. It's the second biggest television market in America and you've got to think LA would make a pretty great Super Bowl host city as well. With a sparkling new stadium and the billions upon billions of corporate dollars floating around LA, I do think a team out there would be a huge success and a great thing for the NFL. I just don't want it to be our team. On the same note, it would be heartbreaking to see teams like the Vikings or Bills ripped from their homes as well. Shame you've got to root for another city to lose their beloved franchise in order for ours to stay.

[Coolyfett]

the Jags aint leaving! Stop the madness! look everyone. the nfl is perfect at 32 teams. the rotation n rivalries r great! ok if the Jags go to to La, will they still be in da Afc South or Afc West? If they go, it ruins the both rivalries wit Texans n Titans. y do u think they put mia in the Afc East instead of the Afc South? it makes better sense for a west team to move there. Rams, Raiders or Bolts....not the Jags! the media hates Jacksonville with a passion. The media dont want a team there

[Coolyfett]

the media is trying to persaude everyone else to suddenly hate Jacksonville as an NFL city. We have been seeing this bias since 96. Its a Media vs Jacksonville thing n if u pay taxes in Jax, u should take it personal, even though its a business attack.  St Louis aint selling out there games neither is Detriot, Buffalo, Cleveland or Oak land. Do they get attacked!? Nope! the media likes those markets. Citizens of Jax have to c the big picture. its not even about football, its about pride.

[Coolyfett]

.....pride n lack of respect. The Media has no respect for the Jacksonville market. I think its time u people start hitting back.....Dont let the media bully u guys into depression. Love ur city, by loving UR team when they need it most. Can buy tickets, hey buy a hat or shirt or jersey. A small investment is an investment!! Im in Atlanta n i wear Jags shit everyday. own 3 skull caps, 2 hoodies, n a set of Jags gloves...invest yall. im 5 hrs away and doing it.

[Coolyfett]

before i go, sorry bout da b2b post. im posting from my phone. In downtown people watching. bama n gator fans all over the place!! Go Bama!

[jandar]

Now will the local media get behind the Jags and prop them up, or will they continue to try to be Gainesville East and talk nothing but Gators and Tim Tebow?

[stjr]

From the NY Times:

December 7, 2009
N.F.L. May End $100 Million Revenue-Sharing Fund
By JUDY BATTISTA

N.F.L. owners are prepared to end a small sliver of revenue sharing that helps shore up the league’s lowest-revenue teams.

The owners informed the players union that starting with the next league year in March â€" which would be the start of an uncapped season if no new collective bargaining agreement is reached â€" owners will not share a $100 million fund. Nine teams at the bottom of the revenue pecking order drew from that pool this season.

The $100 million represents a tiny fraction of the $6.5 billion â€" much of it money generated from television contracts â€" that all 32 teams share. The decision was first reported by ESPN on Sunday.

The players union plans to fight the move before a special master because it contends that the collective bargaining agreement gives it the right to approve or challenge any changes to the revenue-sharing model. The players union is concerned that even the loss of a relatively small amount of money could imperil the competitiveness of smaller-market teams like Jacksonville, Cincinnati and Arizona.

“Revenue sharing helps maintain the ‘any given Sunday’ dynamic in the N.F.L.,” the players union spokesman George Atallah said. “The amount of money some owners propose to pull out of the system in 2011 could mean the difference between playoffs and blackouts for many teams.”

Not so, says management. It seems nearly certain that no deal will be reached to avert an uncapped year and a management executive said the supplemental revenue sharing applied only to capped seasons. Management claims that the special rules set out to govern an uncapped season should maintain competitive balance even without the supplemental revenue sharing.

Among those rules: there will be no salary minimum; players become unrestricted free agents after six years, not four; each team gets an additional transition tag; and the final eight playoff teams can sign free agents only to replace the ones they lose. Still, the move is sure to cost some players money. Without a salary floor, typically low-spending and low-revenue teams will spend little.

“We are simply going forward on the terms the union approved in March of 2006,” the league spokesman Greg Aiello said.

Aiello continued: “The union is just trying to make noise to get some attention. The C.B.A. has special rules to protect competitive balance in the uncapped year. There will still be billions in equally shared revenue in 2010.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/sports/football/07labor.html

[JaxNative68]

looking at the renderings that were posted . . . a playboy club in the stadium?  mixing playmates and nfl players sounds like trouble waiting to happen!

[Captain Zissou]

Those stadium renderings are hard to believe.  25 miles east of downtown?  I am not as convinced that the retailers would jump all over it.  Either way, it looks like the ultimate exploitation of the American consumer culture. 

[David]

I was about to post this link before it was posted in another thread, but i'm honestly weary of anymore gossip until we have solid proof of anything drastic happening.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Los-Angeles-announces-intentions-to-poach-the-Ja;_ylt=AvlS2fnMT3vM.2mArdJpW_xDubYF?urn=nfl,212070

my main concern is the following quote from the article about LA's intentions to poach our team:

I wouldn't worry too much about it just yet, Bills and Jags fans. Of course, it probably wouldn't hurt to start, you know, filling your stadium, either.

We have to rally around buying season tickets or at least half packs. My biggest mistake this past year was not buying season tickets when I had the money. By the time the regular season came around, I found myself in a money pinch when it came time to pay for the individual home games.

It'd be nice to see Touchdown Jacksonville or another group focus on selling season tickets for the 2010 season. I know I feel a lot less stressed out about going to the games (money-wise) when the tickets are prepaid, like they had been in the past.

We have a little over 8 months to make this happen. Hopefully we can win back some of the 17,000+ season ticket holders (including myself) that didn't renew for the 2009 season.

[Keith-N-Jax]

Well that 4 game bail out isn't going to help. I signed up for the elayaway for season tickets. With the monthly installments its a little easier than paying it all at once.

[David]

Some people won't sign up for a complete season though, so it's better to meet them halfway and persuade them to buy a half pack than not have them go to the games at all.

Personally, I'd rather have tickets to all games and sell/give tickets away to the ones I can't attend.

[mtraininjax]

We have a little over 8 months to make this happen. Hopefully we can win back some of the 17,000+ season ticket holders (including myself) that didn't renew for the 2009 season.

Agreed, and all the people who want to build a new rail system, it won't be worth dirt without the Jaguars, get your priorities in line.

[Sportmotor]

WOW this topic took off...this will take a while to caught up

[blizz01]

Goodell won't guarantee NFL L.A. return

Commissioner Roger Goodell still cannot guarantee that the NFL will return to Los Angeles.

At his annual Super Bowl week news conference Friday, Goodell said the league continues to work towards bringing a team back to Los Angeles, which has been without an NFL team since the Rams and Raiders left in 1995, but there are still several hurdles standing in the way.

"I don't think we can guarantee that a team will be there," Goodell said. "We are all working very hard to get a team back in the Los Angeles market because we know there are millions of fans there that would love to see NFL football as part of their community. I think progress is being made. The good news is clearance has been given to build a stadium."

The $800 million, 75,000-seat stadium to be built in the City of Industry, was unanimously approved by the City of Industry Council last year. It will be built and developed by Ed Roski's Majestic Real Estate Co. Roski plans to buy a team or acquire a major share in one before beginning construction and move it to its new home near the 60 and 57 Freeway interchange. Majestic Vice President John Semcken, who is in Miami with Roski, has said that it's only a matter of time before a team moves into the stadium and they've already begun the process of contacting teams. Semcken has stated he has "no doubt" an NFL team would be in Los Angeles by 2012.

Goodell, however, didn't sound as optimistic about the that time frame considering the economic climate and the ongoing labor talks between the league and players' union, which could cause a lockout in 2011 after the current labor pact expires.

"The key issue is the challenges of financing a facility in this environment with the labor agreement that we have," Goodell said. "The cost of building that stadium is almost entirely on the ownership and that is a big burden to pay in this type of environment."

The team that continues to come up in relocation discussions is the Jacksonville Jaguars, who had about 25,000 empty seats for most home games this season. It's a number that doesn't look to improve with about 17,000 Jacksonville fans opting not to renew their season tickets. Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver has told Goodell he can't have a franchise in the city if attendance continues drop as it has in recent years.

"We know what's going on in [Jacksonville] and what our fans and partners are facing with the economic challenges," Goodell said. "I've spent an awful lot of time with Wayne about what's happening with Jacksonville and how that's affecting the attendance and I think Wayne said it very well, despite the economy and despite other factors you can't continue to have an NFL franchise with 40,000 people in the stadium. We've got to try to continue to improve that. Wayne has been very aggressive in working with the business community and we will continue to support him in any way."

Another possibility may be the San Diego Chargers, who continue to push for a new home while playing in the antiquated Qualcomm Stadium, which was built in 1967 and is the NFL's fourth-oldest stadium. San Diego, which was once a regular destination for the Super Bowl, hasn't held one in seven years and won't until they get a new stadium. The problem is the city is saddled with $179 million in debt and building a football stadium isn't high on the list of priorities for tax payers.

"I know the Chargers are working very hard to get something done in the San Diego community. They have worked for eight years now to address their stadium issue and baseball has been addressed in the meantime," Goodell said. "That stadium does need to be fixed for the NFL, which means a new stadium. They have done a lot of work over the years and unfortunately it's hasn't produced a solution and that's disappointing everybody. It is a priority for the Chargers and the NFL."

Goodell also addressed the Rams' possible ownership change during his news conference saying the NFL is committed to staying in St. Louis and also said that the Bills, who have been targeted by the Majestic Group, would have to upgrade their stadium as well in the near future.

While he couldn't guarantee the NFL would return to Los Angeles, Goodell said the prospect of investing in a new football stadium in the second biggest market would be one of the aspects he would talk to the player's association about during their discussions as a way to increase revenue for both them and the league.

"Investing in a new stadium in Los Angeles will generate more revenue that the players will share in," Goodell said. "That's the kind of investment if we work together with the players association and the clubs where we can develop a relationship and invest in those kinds of facilities that will generate new revenue and allow the game to grow and allow us to get back and engage millions of fans in Southern California and that will be good for us and that will be good for the players."

*****Arash Markazi is a reporter and columnist for ESPNLosAngeles.com*****

"It's a number that doesn't look to improve with about 17,000 Jacksonville fans opting not to renew their season tickets."  - What a horrible freaking slant - That's last season's story line.  There are obviously great strides being made already THIS season.  That does it.  I'm getting my pair.