TUESDAY | Feb. 3, 2009

The Super Bowl was made for Hollywood. This Sunday's script had it all – from a record setting 100-yard interception to a last-minute, come-from-behind pass and reception in the corner of the end zone. Even the sunny Tampa backdrop looked like it was filmed on location in this weekend’s perfect Southern California weather.

Unfortunately, the National Football League (NFL) was one of Los Angeles' first runaway productions when both the Rams and Raiders left town 15 years ago. Now it's time to bring an NFL team and the Super Bowl back to Southern California. The L.A. Memorial Coliseum hosted the first Super Bowl in 1967 and a total of seven Super Bowls were played at the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl until NFL football left Los Angeles in 1994.

The L.A. Area Chamber recently endorsed Majestic Realty Co.'s, proposed stadium and entertainment complex in the City of Industry. This 75,000-seat football arena – developed and privately-funded by Majestic Realty under the leadership of Ed Roski – is our regions best chance at bringing the NFL back to Los Angeles anytime soon.

The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for this project was approved by the City of Industry a week ago and Roski's team of professionals at Majestic Realty has been actively presenting the proposal to NFL owners. There are still plenty of hurdles to making it happen, but bringing an NFL team back to the second largest media market in the nation would seem to be a priority for the league. Do the math. One out of every 20 Americans lives in the L.A. Metropolitan Area and we have no NFL team.

But bringing a team and future Super Bowls back to Los Angeles is about more than Sunday bragging rights. It is also a smart economic development strategy. The $762 million economic impact of the new NFL stadium and the accompanying entertainment venue will be a welcome stimulus during a time when California has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation with the County of Los Angeles at 9.9 percent. The estimated 6,735 jobs, $323 million in annual earnings and $21 million in tax revenue would be a welcome boost to our economy.

Are you curious? View the proposed stadium and see where you would like to sit when the coin toss happens at the first game. Wouldn't it be fun to watch some of our local football heroes at USC and UCLA carry their talent to a hometown team here in Southern California? And wouldn't it be great to play host to thousands of fans coming to watch a sunny weather, hard fought Super Bowl happening just down the road?

Bringing the NFL back to Los Angeles would be a game winning touchdown that all of us can root for.

And that's The Business Perspective.

Gary L. Toebben
President & CEO
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce

The Business Perspective is a weekly opinion piece by Gary Toebben, President & CEO of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, produced with the input of Samuel Garrison, Vice President of Public Policy.

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