Governor’s efforts to woo NFL misguided

There's nothing like bringing out the heavy artillery.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke at the NFL owners' meeting in Texas on Tuesday to rally support to bring the NFL back to Los Angeles. The Governator asked Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and the owners to put not one but two franchises in the L.A.-Orange County region a la the MLB, NBA and NHL.

According to The Associated Press, Schwarzenegger came forward to make sure that "We're getting not only one NFL team to the L.A. area, Southern California, but to actually get two teams. That's why I came. Why limit it?"

Now that is the height of public service if I have ever seen it. Maybe Arnie should run for re-election on this platform: "I went to Grapevine, Texas, my fellow Caulyfornians, and I asked those NFL girly-men to do what they have been dying to do since 1994."

If President Bush is the "decider," then Schwarzenegger is the "stater-of-the-obvious."

Everyone loosely affiliated with the NFL wants to bring football back to Los Angeles. The only thing keeping this from happening is Los Angeles.

The situation doesn't call for the Terminator. It calls for a couple of accountants and a financial visionary.

The L.A.-Orange County region is the second biggest market, second only to the New York tristate area. The NFL has no reason to keep a franchise out of the area. It's a flat-out horrible business move.

It makes you wonder why there isn't an L.A. Saints team right now.

"The fact that we're here and doing what we're doing is better than anything I could say," Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "This is the strongest effort I've seen on the league's part."

Listen to what the owners are saying. They would love to bring football back to this city. The fault lies with the city's politicians, not the NFL.

Tagliabue is perhaps the most successful commissioner of any of the Big Four of American sports. He oversaw a seamless transition of leadership by replacing Pete Rozelle, a guy who was by all standards irreplaceable.

When he took over the reigns in 1989, the NFL had an annual revenue stream of $1.4 billion. The NFL is projected to generate over $20 billion in the upcoming season. There have also been no work stoppages during his tenure, while the other major sports have all suffered from either a players' strike or owners' lockout. And Tagliabue's working relations with union chief Gene Upshaw has been the backbone of a well-structured salary cap that has set the standard for competitive balance.

His track record is impeccable. During the 17 years Tagliabue has transformed the NFL into an empire, L.A. politicians have made no progress in securing a financial plan to build a new football stadium. The city's leadership keeps recycling half-baked plans to renovate the Rose Bowl or the L.A. Coliseum. And each time, the NFL finds no owner in his right mind who would jump at such an offer.

The city councilmen have been unable to put innovative business minds in a room and come up with a way to build a new football stadium while not driving this city into bankruptcy.

Here are what every owner's demands for the city will be: a new, highly sophisticated sports facility with a long-term plan for city development around that facility.

I don't want to make it sound simple. It requires an obscene amount of public funding that the city needs to use to build roads and schools. You know, money needed to basically run the biggest city in the country. And if the politicians were to come out and say that, fine. There's no disgrace in having two pro basketball teams, two baseball teams, two hockey teams and a stellar education system.

So, why don't we just stop kidding ourselves. As far as priorities, a football franchise is near the bottom of the list. Nevermind two.