LETTERS
NFL-Anaheim
Maybe letters to important people do get results!
I’m a former Los Angeles Rams fan who a few months back sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue’s office urging them to give more serious consideration to Anaheim as a site for an NFL franchise (new or existing).
They replied indicating that Anaheim was being considered as a possible location for a future franchise, but I thought they were simply placating me.
Well, what do you know? It appears from media reports that the NFL is indeed serious about Anaheim, and for good reason.
The 2004 football season marks the 10th year without professional football in the Southland.
With the next series of television broadcast contracts up for bid, the NFL has been methodically working toward determining how and where to build a “state-of-the-art” football stadium in America’s second largest media market to attract a franchise.
They realize the need to accomplish this without the use of general fund taxes.
Surprisingly, the NFL (at least until now) has shown preference toward problematic stadium locations such as the Rose Bowl, Los Angeles Coliseum and a Carson toxic landfill, while bypassing the location with the most potential,the vacant 159-acre parking lot surrounding Angel Stadium.
The city of Anaheim has already completed and certified an EIR for building a 70,000-capacity football venue at this site.
The Anaheim location does not have the environmental concerns found in Carson. Anaheim is more accessible than the Rose Bowl. Anaheim provides a fan-friendly environment without parking hassles and the crime perceptions and urban decay associated with the Coliseum.
The design shortcomings recently unveiled for the Rose Bowl modifications confirm that a newly constructed facility in Anaheim would offer greater amenities at lower cost than a refurbished facility.
Furthermore, the Anaheim location offers enough acreage to incorporate ancillary commercial, retail and residential development that would enhance the fan’s entertainment experience and perhaps offset the stadium’s capital or infrastructure cost.
If New Yorkers can cross state lines to attend football games in New Jersey, then Southern Californians can support Anaheim as a football destination in the same manner that we have made Anaheim the premier family entertainment destination.
The significant investment that the NFL offers toward this project underlies the unique characteristics of the Southern California market.
With the additional benefit in hosting Super Bowls, Anaheim leaders should wage an aggressive campaign to capitalize on an opportunity that has not been available to other cities that have recently built new stadiums. They should demand from the NFL a chance to run with this football that the three communities mentioned above have fumbled.
Anaheim is the lowest-risk, highest-return Southern California football solution.
Archie Brown
Long Beach
John Kerry
Let me see if I understand: Sen. Kerry wants us to keep our troops in Germany in order to convince France to send troops to Iraq, so that we’ll have more troops to send to Germany.
Am I confused by this because I didn’t serve in Vietnam?
Howard J. Klein
Irvine
