Time & Perspective Quote by Leigh Steinberg

“As for football in L.A.” is a setup that sounds casual, even dismissive, but it’s really a power read of a famously fickle market. Leigh Steinberg isn’t speaking as a dreamy fan; he’s speaking as a dealmaker who understands that franchises don’t “come” to a city so much as they’re lured, leveraged, and subsidized. The drawn-out “loooong” is doing double duty: it’s comic emphasis, but it’s also a warning to anyone treating Los Angeles like an empty stage waiting for the next NFL plot twist.

The subtext is about scar tissue. L.A. has been burned by teams leaving (Rams, Raiders) and by civic leaders wary of being played for stadium money. Steinberg’s elongation reads like someone watching the negotiation clock, not the scoreboard: relocation isn’t just about fan appetite, it’s about political will, land, infrastructure, and whether a city believes the economic fairy tales owners tell to get a shiny new venue.

Context matters because L.A. is the rare American metropolis that can take football or leave it. It’s a sprawling entertainment capital with year-round competition for attention, where celebrity courtside culture can drown out even elite sports. Steinberg’s line acknowledges that reality bluntly: the NFL doesn’t automatically dominate here, and without a stadium solution and a clear civic consensus, “another team” isn’t a romantic inevitability. It’s a transaction waiting for the right conditions - and he’s betting those conditions won’t arrive quickly.