Robert Kraft: ‘Very important for our future’ to have NFL team in Los Angeles
By Mike Dyce
Expansion is always a hotly debated topic in sports, and the NFL has been looking to move a franchise back into the Los Angeles area for some time now. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said that a team in Los Angeles is vital to the long-term health of the league.
“In the end, we want young people here branded to a team,” Kraft said, via NFL.com. “I know that Roger and I and a number of the owners who care about the long-term health of the NFL feel it’s very important for our future to have at least one — if not two teams — in downtown L.A.”
NFL commissioner Rodger Goodell addressed the situation with the NFL and Los Angeles on Thursday at The Beverly Hilton during a panel on Thursday Night Football.
“It still comes back to, ‘Do we have the right solution in Los Angeles?’ And that comes back to a stadium,” Goodell said. “Do we have a stadium that we feel can be competitive with the high-quality stadiums? I just came from San Francisco, from a ribbon-cutting for a new stadium (in Santa Clara) and we’re excited about that and we’re investing billions of dollars in creating those kinds of stadiums.”
Goodell added: “We would like to do that. We think there’s a great opportunity to be successful (in Los Angeles). I think opportunity’s starting to develop, maybe in part because we have that long-term planning in front of us.”