Is Professional Football Finally Headed to Los Angeles?

Professional football may return to Los Angeles as soon as next year.

The United Football League is in discussions to place a new franchise in Los Angeles, league commissioner Michael Huyghue told FanHouse on Wednesday.

Huyghue said that the league is in conversations with three potential ownership groups that have expressed interest in bringing a UFL franchise to Los Angeles. He declined to name specifics on any of the various ownership groups.

"Los Angeles becomes particularly important for us," Huyghue said in a phone interview. "It's a market we would very much like to be in, that's no question.

"There's a great cachet of being in Los Angeles. It's the centerpiece of the country and for us to be there helps our league."

Los Angeles is the second largest city and TV market in the country, but it's been 14 years since the NFL played in the city.


"Staying out of NFL markets is important," Huyghue said. "We're about 'pro football for the rest of America.' That's what we have been looking for. The fact that the NFL is not in L.A. provides a unique opportunity for us. It could give us a foothold in a market that could offer a television footprint for us."

Since the departure of both the Raiders and Rams, attempts to support professional football in the city have been made. The Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena League played its games at the Staples Center from 2000-2009 until the league folded. The XFL had a brief stay in 2001 with the Los Angeles Xtreme.

"There's a great cachet of being in Los Angeles. It's the centerpiece of the country and for us to be there helps our league."
--Michael Huyghue, UFL Commissioner While Huyghue said there has been plenty of chatter about an NFL team landing in Los Angeles, he explained that the cost might be too high.

"I think the economics of it make it very difficult for the NFL to get there because the cost of a stadium is $1 billion and to start a new franchise is close to $1 billion," Huyghue said. "I haven't heard of a group ready to put up $2 billion to put a team in the market."

While Huyghue didn't name particular locations, he stated that a UFL franchise could find a home in an existing stadium. He used the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. as an example. The 27,000-seat stadium is home to Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy and Club Deportivo Chivas USA.

The UFL plans to expand its league by two new franchises per year. The UFL launched in 2009 with four teams: the Florida Tuskers, Las Vegas Locomotives, California Redwoods and New York Sentinels.

The league expanded in 2010 with the launch of the Omaha Nighthawks. The market has been an early success, as the franchise sold out its home opener. Additional movement took place in 2010 as the Redwoods moved from San Francisco-San Jose to become the Sacramento Mountain Lions and the Sentinels became the Hartford Colonials.

The league has already announced that Virginia will be the location of one of the 2011 teams.

"It's being captured in different markets," Huyghue said. "If you like pro football, then you are going to like our games. It's universal -- people are looking for entertainment at a value."

Jimmy Spencer can be reached at jimmypspencer@gmail.com or on Twitter @jimmypspencer