Magic Johnson believes LA will land NFL team within next two years

[Sportsguy9695]

Basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson says Los Angeles is ready for the return of an NFL team.
And he thinks it will happen soon, according to Yahoo! Sports.
"I think for the first time, I truly believe we're going to get a team. Finally," Johnson said. "Everybody is on board. The city is on board. The business community is on board. The NFL is on board. Finally we have momentum. In the next couple years, at least in the next 24 months, I think one team will be coming. I don't know what team that will be, but I believe in the next two years we'll have a team."
 
Farmers Field, a proposed $1.5 billion downtown football stadium connected to an expanded Los Angeles Convention Center, is ready for construction. A competing stadium project proposed by real estate magnate Ed Roski in the City of Industry has been ready to push dirt since 2009, with little traction.
 
Source: ESPN LA

 

[Mobruler]

I agree.  They deserve a team and they'll get one.  
 
The state of Florida has three teams, 10% of the league, which they cannot handle.  I lived in Tampa for a year recently, they have no foundation to support an NFL team, no local independent wealth, no interest in supporting a team.  Sapp and Booger winning a Super Bowl there is just the string that has yet to be cut, and if that championship didn't happen, that franchise would be long gone.
 
The situation in Jacksonville is worse.  If they traded for Aaron Rodgers tomorrow, they still couldn't sell that stadium out. Too much poverty.
 
Of the Bucs and Jags, one should go to L.A., the other should go to Toronto.

 

[Teagz]

Pro sports in Florida has been and always will be a terrible idea.

 

[Hurricane Season]

I agree.  They deserve a team and they'll get one.  
 
The state of Florida has three teams, 10% of the league, which they cannot handle.  I lived in Tampa for a year recently, they have no foundation to support an NFL team, no local independent wealth, no interest in supporting a team.  Sapp and Booger winning a Super Bowl there is just the string that has yet to be cut, and if that championship didn't happen, that franchise would be long gone.
 
The situation in Jacksonville is worse.  If they traded for Aaron Rodgers tomorrow, they still couldn't sell that stadium out. Too much poverty.
 
Of the Bucs and Jags, one should go to L.A., the other should go to Toronto.

 
Why does LA deserve a team?  They've had two, and lost both because they didn't support them.  LA doesn't deserve shit.

 

[footballplaya52]

not to mention cali already has 3 teams, oakland, san diego and san fran.

 

[Mobruler]

 
Why does LA deserve a team?  They've had two, and lost both because they didn't support them.  LA doesn't deserve shit.

 
As I think about it, you are right.  People quickly assume that L.A. needs a team because of the city's population and size.
 
I was trying to make more of a point that Tampa and Jacksonville don't deserve teams than I was that L.A. deserves one.
 
Maybe Toronto is the city that most deserves one of those teams.  Hey, just move one of them anywhere in Texas.  Texas + football = success.

 

[elcheato]

I don't think LA "deserves" a team by any stretch of the imagination, but the NFL is much bigger now, and they would have no problem succeeding in that market today

Would the NFL work in Alabama? Oklahoma?

 

[Mobruler]

Alabama, no.  OKC, yes.  Toronto, OKC and another Texas team in San Antonio would probably be most viable.

 

[H-MYK]

Pro sports in Florida has been and always will be a terrible idea.

I know a couple people who live in Florida and the state's sports fans have a reputation of being bandwagon / fair-weather. While LeBron was with the Heat, everyone was suddenly a Heat fan.

 

[Mobruler]

I bet the Rays have lost millions and millions of dollars on gate revenue because that stadium is in St. Petersburg.  Then again, maybe not.  I spent a year in Tampa recently and it seemed like half of the population were holding homeless signs on sidewalks.

 

[elcheato]

They gain it all back and more from revenue sharing. 

 

[footballplaya52]

 

[LakeShow]

I don't think LA "deserves" a team by any stretch of the imagination, but the NFL is much bigger now, and they would have no problem succeeding in that market today

Would the NFL work in Alabama? Oklahoma?

agree