The impact on USC and UCLA if the NFL moves back to LA

USC and UCLA have enough to compete with out in California. With the NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS all having teams in Los Angeles and with two NFL franchises based not far away (the Chargers in San Diego and the Oakland Raiders), the NCAA has always struggled in the media hungry LA district.

And those struggles could become more troublesome. For a few years now there has been talk of the NFL heading back to the west coast but it has quickly gathered pace with several teams unable to fill out stadiums in their respective locales.

Los Angeles has not housed a National Football League franchise since the Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995, leaving a lot of fans resentful towards the League. But is all this soon to change?

There is still a massive demand for a franchise in LA, with sponsorship, building contractors and, of course, supporters queuing up to welcome a new team to the city. Several franchises could be in the mix to move, but no matter who it is, it’s not good news for the NCAA programmes that call the city home.

As the two collegiate teams already in the vicinity, UCLA and USC already battle each other for media rights and for the local fans. Would they be able to compete and continue to fill out their stadiums on a weekly basis if an NFL team moved in?

NCAA fans should have faith. Plenty of collegiate teams coincide in the same metropolitan area as NFL franchises and still manage to fill out stadiums. USC especially, has a solid fan base, and both USC and UCLA have competed with the NFL in the past, with some success.

So those worrying that the fans will start to disappear, that media relations will be torn and that sponsorship deals will disintegrate if the NFL moves to LA, should relax and think about one thing. The population of Los Angeles at the 2010 US Cencus was 3,792,621. There are plenty of fans to go around.

Article courtesy of NJ Sharrocks.