L.A. shows the NFL it is ready - Ingles

For years now, Los Angeles has been to the NFL what a ditzy beauty is to a movie producer.

Pretty enough to stop traffic, but too discombobulated to remember what time the audition is, let alone memorize her lines.

The city's inability to get its act together politically and financially squandered opportunity after opportunity to bring football back to the City of Angels, and for nearly two decades we watched smaller cities like Jacksonville, Charlotte, Nashville and Houston land NFL franchises rather than L.A.

The problem was us, not them.

The NFL desperately wanted to be here, we just weren't ready for the NFL.

That all changed Tuesday when the City Council voted unanimously to endorse a Memo of Understanding with Anschutz Entertainment Group on its downtown events center project.

The decisive vote did more than give Philip Anschutz peace of mind to push forward on his company's grand $1.3billion plan to renovate the Convention Center and construct the 72,000-seat Farmers Field adjacent to Staples Center.

It also delivered a powerful message, one that echoed all the way to a skeptical office at 280 Park Avenue in New York City.

Los Angeles is no longer that scatterbrained wannabe actress.

We now have the financial will of a powerful billionaire coupled with a united political front, buoyed by a supportive public.

For the first time in 16 years, we are all finally on the same page.

"This shows we can absolutely get things done here," councilman Eric Garcetti said.

So NFL, say hello to Kate Upton meets Meryl Streep.

Have we got your attention now?

"This is a huge deal for the NFL," a prominent team executive said Tuesday.

More like a game-changer.

As quickly as you can say down, set, hut, a handful of NFL teams struggling to build stadiums in their current cities will begin auditioning to be the team, or teams, to call Los Angeles home.

And instead of trying to convince the NFL to come back to L.A., we can sit back and let the NFL woo us.

The San Diego Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, St. Louis Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills all face uphill battles to build new stadiums or have unstable fan support in their home cities.

Each is a candidate to move to LosAngeles, and with the city now firmly united with AEG to build a viable stadium, all of them will now take us seriously.

Eventually one or two of them will make the move here, the first arriving as early as the 2012 season and playing at the Coliseum or Rose Bowl until Farmers Field opens in 2016.

"What that vote did," the NFL executive said, "is make it less about Los Angeles trying to secure a team to now a race among teams competing to be in that market."

One that will commence immediately.

"It will happen pretty quickly," the executive said.

And why not?

Who wouldn't want to take up residence in the second-biggest market in the country - in a brand new stadium they don't have to invest a dime in - while playing in front of football-thirsty fans who have waited 16years for a team to call their own.

Even when you take into account the cut of the team they'd have to sell to Anschutz and the $300 million to $500million fee they'd have to pay fellow owners for the right to relocate, some team still stands to make millions by coming here.

Just think of the relocation fee as the money they would have put toward a new stadium - without the debt service - and a small price to pay to reap all the obvious financial advantages a city the stature of LosAngeles offers.

"The return on that investment, for that market, is going to be substantial," the NFL executive said.

"When you think about how much more money you can generate for your sponsorships and your suites and club seats and sponsorship packages, they are quadruple in that market compared to smaller markets.

"So on one hand, it's money you don't have to actually put in a stadium, and on the other, it's the obvious return you get on the investment, which will be substantial."

AEG president Tim Leiweke smiled when that was relayed to him Tuesday.

For a year now, Leiweke has been courting prospective teams and the NFL, trying to sell them on his crazy idea to build a downtown football stadium.

Get this: He was going to get city politicians to unitedly jump on board. Cue the laugh track.

"Everybody we talked to always said, we love the city, we love the fans, we love what you're doing, and it's fantastic your company is going to step up and pay for it all," Leiweke said, "but we just don't believe you'll ever get it done with the city."

That all changed Tuesday, the City Council voting 12-0 to move forward. And with it, a bit of role reversal occurred.

"Up 'till now, we've been pursuing (the NFL)," Leiweke said. "My guess is that game will change a bit."

Make no mistake, the pressure is now squarely on Leiweke and AEG to bring this thing home.

That means making good on its financial promises, delivering an acceptable environmental report and figuring out a way to tear down part of the convention center and rebuild it while also constructing the actual stadium.

"We have some heavy lifting to do," Leiweke said.

Having said that, all you have to do is look at Staples Center and L.A. Live to understand that when Leiweke and AEG put their efforts toward something, it usually gets done.

And after clearing a huge hurdle Tuesday, you have to figure the momentum will now carry them over the goal line.

"This was a good day," Leiweke said.

Meanwhile, the NFL is taking notice. This article was written by Vincent Bonsignore and appeared in The Los Angeles Daily News.