Arthur Blank Becomes the Latest Owner to Use Los Angeles as an Excuse For More Public Funding

And there it is–Arthur Blank has benevolently shared information with information with Atlanta officials that Los Angeles business interests want to move the team, according to a report from Fox 5 in Atlanta. What utter bullshit.

A year ago, word came out that Blank wanted a new state of the art stadium with a retractable roof to replace the Georgia Dome. Sure, the Georgia Dome just turned twenty years old, but you don’t realize just how old that is. That was 3 years B.L.A. (Before Los Angeles). That’s ages ago in the NFL, back to a time when Los Angeles had two teams, not zero.

Los Angeles is the greedy NFL owner’s boogey man. Arthur Blank is just the latest to tell tales around the campfire about that great specter to the West. It’s about time for the rest of this country to call the NFL’s bluff on this one. California is the state that has provided the least public financing, and has two of the oldest stadiums. Two different owners left the second largest market, and for almost twenty years, the NFL has profited off of not having teams in Los Angeles.

They don’t want a team in LA, people. It’s a pretty good con. (1) Mention Los Angeles when talking about your need for a new stadium, (2) Have Commissioner Roger Goodell come out and say that “your town” is definitely in line for a future Super Bowl, (3) See the public voting pass a large contribution so owner can get more luxury boxes and revenue streams. We are about two months from Goodell coming out promising a Super Bowl in Atlanta in 2017 with a new stadium, but expressing his concern that Atlanta will never get one without it (they last hosted in 2000). Go ahead and set your clocks for that one.

[photo via USA Today Sports Images]