48 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 9, 1999 L.A. City Council against using Wunds on NFL LOS ANGELES -- After a spirit- return an N ed debate, the City Council went on said a new record Tuesday as opposing the use benefit the of existing public funds for an NFL rounding E team, although it did leave some Counciln loopholes. most adam The resolution was largely a sym- tax-moneyi bolic measure, since the city has had not b 'offered no taxpayer money to bring a teams that I team to the city. the past. A plan by a private group to put an "The Rai 6expansion team in a remodeled Los Rams didn ;Angeles Coliseum stalled when team is not 1league officials complained about a said. lack of public funds for the project. He saide 0 The resolution, passed by a 9-5 for a team v vote, stated that there would be no to billionair new taxes, no increased taxes and no and "crumb risk to the general tax fund commit- Ridley-T Sed to bringing an NFL team to Los includes th Angeles. other develi a The resolution didn't address Staples Cen future taxes on revenue that would the areas a rbe generated by a team, and didn't that a rem preclude using public money to NFL team ncrease parking spaces at the the Coliseur :Coliseum. NFL officials have said Ridlev-Tr arking at the stadium is inadequate. an idea tha Because negotiations with Los generated b Angeles bogged down, Houston opposed to apparently is the frontrunner for the help build a league's 32nd franchise. "We are s The NFL set a Sept. 15 deadline no new taxe or a decision on the expansion team eral fund," R ut league officials have said they Wachs di Still intend to work on putting a team "They're in Los Angeles in the future. taxes," he The NFL could tell Houston to what's wron egin building its stadium and Since the *romise that city a team without des- negotiating nating whether it would be the Coliseum, d pansion team or an existing team. petition to o hat would give groups competing Carson hasr r a team in the Los Angeles area ture. Whore time to work on their propos- A group s. Marvin Dav Councilman Mark Ridley- officials abo ublic team 'FL team to the Coliseum, parking structure would museums already in sur- xposition Park. nan Joel Wachs was the ant supporter of the no- resolution, saying the city enefitted from the NFL played in the Coliseum in ders didn't do squat, the 't do squat, and a new a going to do it," Wachs contributing public funds would mean "more profits re owners" of NFL teams s to the taxpayers." homas, whose district e Coliseum, noted that opments such as the new nter arena are improving round them, and argued odeled Coliseum and an would do the same around m. homas has been pitching t would use tax money by an NFL team - as present tax funds - to parking structure. aying no increased taxes, es, no danger to the gen- Ridley-Thomas said. dn't like that idea, either. talking about future said. "That's exactly g with this." league, which had been exclusively with the ecided to open the com- ther proposals, suburban moved back into the pic- The Los Angeles City Council opposed using public funds for an NFL team last Tuesday. The law stated that there would be no new taxes came about by bringing an NF team to their city. Texas Christian, Southern Methodista abandon WAC, move to Conference USA TCU, SMU, Rice used to be the celler dwellers of the now defunct Southwest Conference headed by billion is has spoken with IN out building a stadiun aire NFL m at homas, who leads the attempt to Hollywood Park in Inglewood. Don't be dependent on the Daily. Let the Daily be dependent on you. The Michigan Daily is lookin for Sports Writers to cover 'M' athletics. Come to the Daily's mass meeting Sept. 14th at 7:30 at the Student Publications Building. FORT WORTH, Texas (U-WIRE) - TCU, SMU and Rice spent decades as bunkmates in the old Southwest Conference. Each won a SWC championship. Each won a Cotton Bowl. And even when the SWC broke up, "The Three" pointed their ships in the same direction. When the Western Athletic Conference decided to expand after the 1995 football sea- son, TCU, SMU and Rice were selected (along with a few other schools) to join. Even when eight schools defected from the WAC last year, TCU, SMU and Rice stayed put. This package proved very attrac- tive to other conferences. WAC com- missioner Karl Benson said he felt this when the WAC was looking to expand. prominent. They also play in metro- politan areas." Like a package deal, "The Three" went seemingly bound together for decades more. But as Bob Dylan once wrote, "Times they are a changin"'. With rumors flying about TCU and SMU joining Conference USA, the tri- umvirate of TCU, SMU and Rice may be finished. Chancellor Michael Ferrari said the school has had informal conver- sations and will continue to have more formal discussions. SMU con- firmed discussions as well. Rice has been, well, rather silent about the whole thing. Rice. "Why TCU and SMU's names have come up and not some other institu- tion, heck, I just don't know," Koehler said. "I don't have any ideas." Athletic Director Eric Hyman said he is unaware of where Rice current- ly stands. "I don't know the thinking behind Conference USA as far as Rice is concerned," Hyman said. "We are involved in the discussions as far as TCU is concerned. We haven't brought up other institutions." Conference USA has come along and might attempt to sever the con- nection between "The Three." why. "I think the connection (betwece "The Three") is more"the connector between TCU and SMU," Benson said. "By being linked from the same metropolitan area and media center, the chances of the two schools deliv- ering the Dallas/Fort Worth market is greater than Rice delivering the Houston market. Despite smaller enrollments and a smaller alumni base, when packaged, (TCU and SMU) have a better chance than th0 Rice in Houston." This may be the end of the road for TCU, SMU and Rice. The three ami- gos, the great triumvirate, might take separate paths but the tradition once shared both in the SWC and WAC will not be forgotten. -i