How come Green Bay, WI (pop. 195,099) has a pro footbal team but Los Angeles, CA (pop. 4,000,000) has none?

Answer 1

What a question. First, pick up a book on NFL history and that will tell you why the Green Bay Packers have a team. Why they continue to do so is revenue sharing.

As far as LA, do they want want an NFL team? They messed up losing both the Raiders and Rams thanks to a combination of bizarre owners, stadium issues and the NFL's incompetence in dealing with Al Davis and Georgia Frontiere.

Answer 2

Here in LA, both the Rams and Raiders played at the Los Angeles Colloseum and eventually left because they didn't like the venue. They didn't like it for several reasons:
1. The Colloseum is an old facility, which means it lacks many amenities that modern stadiums have (e.g. luxury boxes).
2. The LA Colloseum is located on the north end of a neighborhood called "South Central", which is one of the roughest, most gang-infested and run-down parts of town.
3. The LA Colloseum lacks adequate parking.
4. The Colloseum has over 90,000 seats, which makes it very difficult to sell out games and avoid local television blackouts of game broadcasts.

Several years back, the NFL had decided to expand the league from 30 teams to the current 32. The NFL really wanted to give Los Angeles a team. However, they were rather insistent that LA provide a different facility than the Colloseum.

The LA City Council really wanted an NFL team at the Colloseum because it could bring in business to help revitalize a horribly blighted area of town. So the City Council responded by trying to strong-arm the NFL into using the Colloseum, insisting that it's "the Colloseum or nothing." The city was sure their gambit would work, as they knew that the NFL was desperate to place a team in the country's second largest television market. Much to the City Council's surprise, however, the NFL stood their ground and responded by awarding the 32nd NFL franchise to Houston instead.

That is why Los Angeles doesn't have an NFL team.

Answer 3

Of all the reasons that make the Green Bay Packers and their story so incredible and unique, the most significant is simply this: The team is literally owned by its fans.

Presently, 111,967 people (representing 4,750,925 shares) can lay claim to a franchise ownership interest.

Shares of stock include voting rights, but the redemption price is minimal, no dividends are ever paid, the stock cannot appreciate in value, and there are no season ticket privileges associated with stock ownership. No shareholder is allowed to own more than 200,000 shares, a safeguard to ensure that no one individual is able to assume control of the club.


There have been two NFL franchises in LA - the Rams and the Raiders. The Rams moved to LA in 1949 from Cleveland. They had a succession of private owners during their 49 year tenure in the LA market. At the end of their run, the team plays their games in Anaheim. The Raiders moved to the LA market in the early 1980's (after the Rams bolted the LA Coliseum for Anaheim) from Oakland. Al Davis moved the team to LA in the early 1980'.s

However neither the Rams nor the Raiders had the most lucrative stadium lease in the LA market (they were not the primary tenants of their facilities.) So both team bolted to cities, the Rams to St. Louis and the Raiders back to Oakland, when those cities were willing to offer them much more lucrative deals in their stadium negotiations.

Unlike the cities of Cleveland and Houston, though, LA was not able to force the NFL to put a team in the market right away. First there was not a fan uprising like in Cleveland and Houston because neither the Rams or Raiders seemed to be part of the social fabric of the community. The Rams spent the better part of two decades in Orange County and the Raiders were always seen as opportunists who moved in from Oakland.

Second, the ratings for the NFL actually went up in the 2nd largest TV market after the team's departure. Why? The market was not subject to the NFL's blackout rule which states that the local team must have a sold out home game in order for the game to be played on television. Neither team Rams or Raiders were consistently selling out games near the end of there stay in LA.

Finally, the NFL has been interested in putting a team back in the market. However, there has not been a solid stadium deal in place and the various owners and groups within in the league cannot agree on what type of team should be there.

Some people expect that a current owner will move an exisiting team there. Lots of teams have been rumored to be the team to move to LA including the Saints, the Chargers, and the Jaguars. The Super Bowl runner up Seattle Seahawks even announced a move to LA only to remain in Seattle when Paul Allen bought the team. Even the Indianapolis Colts were rumored to have been a candidate to move to LA which would have been ironic. The Colts are owned by the Irsay family which at one time owned the LA Rams, but traded the Rams to Carroll Rosenbloom for the Baltimore Colts. The Irsay's later moved the Colts to Indianapolis. While Rosenbloom's widow, Georgia Frontiere moved the Rams to St. Louis. However, NFL experts believe that the market would have a lukeward fan reaction to move be an existing franchise.

There is a school of thought that the NFL should place an expansion franchise in the market because the expansion fee alone would be a huge windfall for current NFL owners. But, given the recent track records of the two most recent expansion franchises (Cleveland & Houston), some would expect an expansion franchise would have tough time becoming successful quickly enough to capture the LA market.

Answer 4

Because Los Angeles has had a string of football teams play there without being able to hold onto a single one. From a wide-angled lense, people in Los Angeles just don't seem to be that interested in football. Don't get me wrong - you have Hollywood, 'nuff said, but the Raiders and Rams have been through the turnstile of Tinsle Town and neither team ever sold out, neither team ever had a top of the line stadium.

Meanwhile, the Cheeseheads have sold out year after year after year. Not only that, but Green Bay Packers are owned by the people - not by a company or one man, therefore it would take someone with a wallet the size of Bill Gates to ever rip the Packers from the grip of Green Bay.

No one messes with the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.

Answer 5

Well Green Bay wont lose their team because of the support they get from their community(Packer season tickets have waiting lines of over 50 years!!!) For a small city they financially support their team as good as ne other team. And LA did have a team, actually 2, Rams and Raiders but they both relocated out because of ownership issues. But if ur hoping football gets their I guess its only a matter of time because LA made a deal with the NFL on the construction of a new football stadium.

Answer 6

Green Bay will support the teams and Los Angeles won't. It is really that simple. The population doesn't matter. Actually the other reason is they wouldn't build a new stadium for the Raiders, which is why they moved back over to Oakland.

Answer 7

Because Green Bay has a passion for football , but LA treats sports like a place to show off and dress up.

Answer 8

The fans in Green bay are loyal,ever been there,not to much else to do.Los Angeles has ALOT more things to do,but the NFL plans to try again to place a team in LA in the near future.

Answer 9

l. a. has had 2 photos at having a NFL team and they blew it two times. Plus the Packers are the in ordinary words remnant from the circumstances even as small city communities ruled the league. undergo in ideas that the team is owned by using a community which isn't modern-day in specialist events and is the only reason behind their existence. eco-friendly Bay also has a large and dependable fan base spread all around the rustic yet is frequently depending in the Midwest. reliable element there COWBOYS SUCK.

Answer 10

MONEY! Football teams cost Lot's of money! Green Bay has the bucks, LA dues not!