I saw a report on espn.com recently that Indianapolis Colts owners, the Irsay family, want to move this franchise out to Los Angeles. The reason is that the Indy economy cannot support the luxury skyboxes necessary to be a viable NFL franchise in the 21st Century. The NFL has never really wanted a franchise in little Indianapolis (a very tiny media market) and, of course, it desperately wants a franchise in L.A., yet it is not too keen on the Irsays owning that L.A. franchise.

My question: would a move of the Colts to L.A. bring the Irsay family full circle?

Did the Irsays previously own the L.A. Rams? And, if so, for how long? I know the late Carroll Rosenbloom acquired the L.A. when he traded his Baltimore Colts for the Rams, putting Robert Irsay in as owner of the Colts. So I'm thinking he must have, but I'm not sure. And if he did own the Rams, why would anyone have traded a trade in L.A. for one in Baltimore (!), which played in that horrible Memorial Stadium.

Rosenbloom, as we all know, eventually died under mysterious circumstances, ostensibly bequeathing the team to his widowed bride, a reformed and aging Vegas showgirl, who eventually moved the Rams franchise from Orange County to her hometown.

I can't answer your question but don't forget the Rams were the Cleveland Rams b/4 they moved to Cally...

Georgia Pamela Rosenbloom Frontiere, widow of Carroll, who did die under mysterious circumstances, is the majority owner of the Rams. Robert Irsay owned the team briefly in 1972, when, as someone said, he swapped them with Rosenbloom for the Colts, whom he then abruptly moved to Indianapolis in 1983. I wouldn't be surprised if the Irsays have designs on getting back to Los Angeles; it is a huge market and if the Colts can win half their games, the Irsays will make money.

BTW, is the Indianapolis market that small? I know the city has over 1 million people, but I guess the surrounding metro area isn't as populous as that some smaller cities (St. Louis, Atlanta, Kansas City, etc.).

I can write this with total certainty. The Irsay's aren't wanted here. Neither are the Spanos family (Chargers). And Bill Bidwell? Fagedaboudit.

There's no "mysterious circumstances" about CR's death. I thought everyone knew that it was a murder, he was dragged to his watery grave by scuba divers sent on a hit. [JA looks around nervously, like in an X-Files epiode] Maybe I shouldn't say that--maybe THEY'LL see it.....

Seriously though, the NFL situation in Los Angeles is very simple. Not one cent, not one, will be spent of public money to build a fat cat owner a stadium. And that drives the NFL crazy. I know a lot of people want to bash Los Angeles sports fans--"Neener, neener, you lost TWO NFL teams"--but we know here that the NFL needs us far more than we need them. We're not Nashville, trying to buy prestige by getting sports teams to play there, we've been burned by greedhead owners twice and IF the NFL comes back here, it'll be on our terms, not theirs.

Apart from having crap owners move here, there's the political situation. The Coliseum is in a majority African-American city council district and the Councilman, Mark Ridley-Thomas, obviously wants the NFL to come back to the Coliseum and pump money in to the game-day economy around the venue. But--don't flame me here, I'm just saying what the perception is, not the reality--there's no way in hell that the NFL will do a Coliseum thing, no matter how much they renovate that decrepit old stadium or how many luxury boxes they build because simply, the area is perceived to be A No Whites Go Zone. To make it economically viable, the rich white fans that live in Calabasas and Pacific Palisades will have to go to the games and spend money on luxury boxes. Those people moved to those places precisely to avoid at all costs having to ever go to areas like the one the Coliseum is in ever again. So, the Coliseum? A non-starter and I wish Mr. Ridley-Thomas would just give up.

The Rose Bowl has also been mentioned. But, again, it would need extense re-modeling (no luxury boxes) and the neighborhood association in the Arroyo Seco would fight like caged wolverines to prevent it. They are a powerful pressure group and they're trying their damndest to drive UCLA out. To have entire weekends in the fall given over to the noise and the (hideous) traffic problems that games at the Rose Bowl bring on is a no-go. Once a year? No problem. 10 times a year, plus possible playoff games, never.

There was much hype about Philip Anschutz (owner of the Kings and Staples Center) building a football stadium in the South Park--I love that name, "Going down to South Park gonna have myself a good time" would be the perfect theme song--area of downtown. I can see the South Park area from my office window. It's just a bunch of $2 T-shirt stores and aging warehouses. It's a ghost town even during the day, let alone at nights and on weekends, so it's desperately in need of revival. The Anschutz Empire is still planning to develop the area around Staples (the Convention Center desperately needs the 2 hotels that they would build there) and it was thought that they would extend their tentacles further southeast. They, of course, promised "No public money will be used" but when people read the fine print, they noticed that the taxpayers were liable for any revenue shortfalls that the new stadium would incur. Once that hit the papers, the shit hit the fan. Literally within days, the Anschutz Empire pulled the rug out from under the plan, like a petulant child taking his ball home because the other kids aren't letting him win.

So, we're back to square one. And frankly, if they're proposing owners of the calibre of Frontiere, Davis, Irsay, Bidwell and Spanos, well, we can hold out forever.