SUPER BOWL XXIX : The Key Is Money for NFL in L.A. : Pro football: Keeping a team is a matter of economics, says Tagliabue, adding that the Rams' move is not a done deal.

By MIKE PENNER

Jan. 28, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

MIAMI — In the city where Joe Namath boldly predicted Super Bowl victory 26 years ago, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Friday he was hopeful professional football will continue to be played in the Los Angeles area. But he could not guarantee it.

“I think we will get it done, and I’m optimistic there will be a good, strong representation in Los Angeles,” Tagliabue said during his annual state of the league address. “But I don’t think I can be like Joe Willie and issue a guarantee.”

Tagliabue was responding to a question concerning the Rams’ intention to move to St. Louis and the latest rumors involving the Raiders and Oakland, a prospect that could leave Los Angeles without professional football after 1995. Specifically, Tagliabue was asked if the league preferred representation in St. Louis and Jacksonville over Los Angeles and placed greater value on “dynamic ownership” than market size.

“I don’t think it’s so much a question of leadership, frankly,” he said. “It’s more a question of economics--some of the issues facing our biggest urban centers and the matter of putting together a financial package that’s a real good public sector/private sector partnership.

“I think the Raiders are working hard on that, and we are working with them. A number of people, including the mayor and (Coliseum commissioner) Yvonne Burke and other people in the private sector, have been working on it. It’s just complicated when you have a major urban metropolitan center dealing with a wide array of demands, and this is only one of many.”

Pro football’s future in Los Angeles, Tagliabue said, will depend largely on:

--The feasibility of a new stadium in the area to be funded in part by the NFL.

--Whether a move by the Rams to St. Louis is deemed in the best interests of the league, which, in Tagliabue’s words, is “a big if.”

--Whether the league concurs with the assertion by the Save The Rams task force that the team attempted to drive down home attendance to facilitate a move to St. Louis.

“The group Save The Rams has already been in touch with us,” Tagliabue said, “and we will hear their point of view.

“One of the factors that’s in our guidelines (on franchise relocation) is: Did the team contribute to the loss of fan interest in a significant way, in a way that was controlled, and did the decline in revenues--if there was a decline in revenues--result from things the team did in terms of the way it (operated)? That is in our guidelines, and it will be considered.”

Tagliabue has called a special owners meeting in Dallas on Feb. 16 to discuss the Rams’ relocation. He said the owners will either vote then or at their regular meeting in Phoenix in March. The move could be blocked if eight of the league’s 30 owners vote against it.

“Could the league block a move? I think we could, if we decided it was not in the league’s best interests,” Tagliabue said. “We have tried to tailor our policies and our guidelines to be responsive to some of the court cases that came down concerning proposed franchise moves in the NFL and the NBA in the early and mid-’80s. So the answer to that would be yes.”

Fox Television, which broadcasts NFC games, would be left with no team in its second largest market if the Rams leave, but Tagliabue said he doubted Fox would lobby to prevent the move.

“In terms of Los Angeles, Fox has been in a situation where a lot of games have been blacked out because the Rams and Raiders haven’t sold out this year,” Tagliabue said. “So they have a sort of skewed access to the Los Angeles market--two teams in one market and having heavy blackout patterns in that market.

“So we’ve been talking to Fox about the short-term implications of a possible Rams move vs. the long-term implications. At this juncture, I don’t anticipate any initiative by Fox to renegotiate.”

Tagliabue said the league remains committed to its proposal to help finance the construction of a new football stadium in Southern California to be used by the Raiders and, possibly, the Rams. According to the proposal, the stadium would be used as a regular Super Bowl site. Funding would be raised through Super Bowl seat licenses.

“I think we’re going to have to work very closely with cities and states in (stadium) partnerships around the country,” Tagliabue said. “The stadium we have suggested for Los Angeles would be geared in some way to using the Super Bowl as a keystone in the stadium-financing concept.

“We have had a number of conversations with people in Los Angeles about this concept--Mayor (Richard) Riordan, the Raiders, the Rams. People are working on it as we stand here today.

“It remains a major priority of the league to ensure that we continue to be represented and represented well in the Los Angeles market. . . . Hopefully, we can get that done, and we won’t have to worry about having the Los Angeles area go without an NFL team.”