When NFL owners meet Oct. 27 to weigh rival plans for the next pro football franchise, they will hear from a Houston team that is suited and prepared to take the field.
L.A.’s hopes, by comparison, rest on the shoulder pads of two feuding teams that aren’t ready to leave the locker room.
L.A. still has a chance to catch up in the months ahead, said Roger Goodell, the NFL’s executive vice president of league and football development. But at this moment, he said, Houston is most likely to get the 32nd franchise.
“They’ve got a plan to actually make sure the NFL understands that this is a deal that is not only feasible, but can be presented as a proposal without any conditions to complete,” Goodell said of Houston.
Both groups competing for the L.A. franchise New Coliseum Partners LLC and a group led by former super-agent Michael Ovitz say they view Houston as their chief competition.
“In the big picture of the deal, Houston seems to be a much bigger threat, because they’ve got the dollars on the table a lot of dollars on the table, a couple hundred million dollars on the table, of public money,” said Pat Lynch, general manager of the Coliseum.
Agreed a source close to the Ovitz camp: “Houston’s got the whole (local) government behind the thing. The competition is Houston.”
Houston businessman Robert McNair has teamed up with Harris County, the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo and the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority to propose building a 69,250-seat stadium adjacent to the Astrodome. McNair has agreed to put $56 million up front, and an additional $5 million a year for rent and repairs.
Houston NFL Holdings LLC, McNair’s group, is also expected to get more than $200 million in tax dollars for its stadium under a voter-approved measure setting aside tax revenue from hotels and rental cars.
Harris County is also considering taxing parking and tickets, which would further contribute to the stadium’s financing.
In addition, Harris County is providing land for the stadium, as well as land for about 26,000 parking spaces.
“There are still a few issues to resolve, but the lawyers are sending documents back and forth,” said Steve Patterson, executive vice president of Houston NFL Holdings. “We’re basically there, and starting to document the agreement.”
By comparison, the financial details for both the Coliseum and Ovitz’s planned “Hacienda” stadium in Carson are far from resolved.
The Coliseum project is estimated to cost $325 million to $350 million. Its investors including Staples Center developers Ed Roski Jr. and Philip Anschutz have agreed to contribute $239 million to rebuild the stadium, leaving an $86 million to $111 million gap.
The New Coliseum partners hope to fill that gap through several means, including state funds derived from the fact that the Coliseum is located in a depressed area, as well as funds for preserving a historical landmark, said John Semcken, executive vice president of New Coliseum Partners.
In addition, he said, the number of premium “club seats” has been expanded from 10,000 to 15,000, and the price of suites has been hiked to boost revenues.
Semcken said the plan is still being worked on, and he would not say how much of a gap now remains.
“We haven’t finalized how each of the different elements will come together to finance the facility,” he said. “We have basically the outline of the plan. We now need to finalize it.”
Financial details for the Hacienda are even less clear.
In a brief interview last week, Ovitz called the financing plan “a fluid partnership being worked out between ourselves, the Bank of America and the NFL.
“Nothing’s firmed up yet,” Ovitz acknowledged.
The Ovitz group says the 78,000-seat stadium, which could cost as much as $300 million, will be largely privately financed made possible because the stadium will be surrounded by a 1.5-million-square-foot, entertainment-themed shopping center.
A source close to the Ovitz group said revenues from personal seat licenses, suites and corporate sponsorships also will help to fill the gap between what investors are willing to put into the stadium and what it will cost to build.
That means a minimal amount of public financing something the NFL has insisted upon in past discussions.
“One of the conditions (the NFL) gave us is that we do this without public participation,” said one source close to the Ovitz group, saying time delays associated with the Cleveland deal has soured the NFL on such financing. “We’re doing a privately financed deal, and I think you’ll find a publicly financed deal won’t fly.”
For its part, the NFL continued to maintain last week that public participation is important. “What we said is, we want a public participation, and that is what we are seeking,” Goodell said. “But the public participation can come in many forms,” such as tax revenues, site acquisition, a streamlined approval process or other forms.
Whatever the case, the Ovitz group will indeed use at least some public funds.
Carson City Manager Jerry Groomes said he has been in discussions with Ovitz’s group, and expects a request for finances or other assistance from the city in the next two weeks. This gives the city enough time to consider the request before the NFL meeting.
If both proposals lose out to Houston, there is no telling when L.A. will get another shot at an expansion team.
“The commissioner said he doesn’t foresee any more expansion in the near future after this one if we do this one,” said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.
Aiello added that until the NFL expanded in 1995, there was a nearly 20-year stretch since 1976 when the league did not add any new teams.
