NFL Teams Don't Move Unless They Have Issues With Their Stadium

It's no secret that the NFL wants a team in Los Angeles. Rumors persist of various franchises leaving their homes and going out west -- or, in the case of the San Diego Chargers, going north about 120 miles. Tom Benson might have moved the Saints there already if it weren't for Hurricane Katrina.

It's the Jacksonville Jaguars, though, that seem to be the team everyone wants to put in L.A., mostly because they're a small-market team still struggling to sell tickets, and few outside of that city would blink if they moved.

Put it out of your head. As Vic Ketchman of Jaguars.com reminds us, NFL teams don't move because they can't sell out their stadium. Indeed, they move because of the stadium itself.

The Browns left Cleveland because of a stadium issue. That's why the Rams left Los Angeles, the Colts left Baltimore, the Cardinals left St. Louis and the Oilers left Houston. Down through history, stadium issues have usually been the reason teams have left one city for another. The Jaguars, however, don't have a stadium issue. As far as I know, the stadium situation here is fine, so don't compare the Jaguars to the Browns, Rams, Colts, Cardinals, Raiders, etc.

Ketchman is also quick to point out just how big a dump L.A. Coliseum is.

Los Angeles has always been reluctant to use public funds to build stadiums for its sports teams. When the Dodgers moved to Los Angles, they played in the LA Coliseum until Dodger Stadium was built, and it was built with private money, of course. The LA Coliseum has been used as a sports receptacle for teams attempting to strike it rich in the prosperous LA market. The Chargers played there. The LA Express played there. So have the Rams and the Raiders, and all the LA Coliseum has done during that time is get older and more unaccommodating. The last time I covered a game in the LA Coliseum was in 1994 and I sat in a makeshift outdoor press box in the end zone because the one on the 50-yard line had fallen into such disrepair that it was unfit for occupancy.

Of course, the situation in L.A. might change if Ed Roski turns this YouTube video into a reality, but until that happens, no NFL team will be happy in L.A., and no NFL team will leave its current home if it already have a quality stadium.

So there you go, Jaguars fans. Your stadium is the bee's knees, and your Jaguars plan to keep playing in it for a while. Now all they have to do is find someone who'll buy the naming rights, and all you have to do is go buy tickets. I mean, they got to the playoffs twice in the last three years, and they blew all those draft picks on the pass rushers they need. Why shouldn't you?