Want clarity on the NFL's return to LA? Lots of luck

Time for Commissioner Roger Goodell's periodic non-statement about getting a team back in town. At least this one came with a prop: Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, who will take over the NFL-in-L.A. staring contest now that Tim Leiweke is out of the picture. Here's what Goodell said at the owners' meeting in Phoenix:

I think it is a positive that Phil Anschutz is reengaging. He seems that he would like to get a stadium built in Los Angeles that would be suitable for an NFL team. We look forward to working on that. As you know because of the sales process, that's probably crippled any discussions for several months, but we look forward to reengaging with them and see if we can get something done.

Reengaging? Does that mean he was unengaged while Leiweke cut a billion-dollar-plus deal with the city? Sorta hard to believe. Frankly, anything Goodell says about L.A. is hard to believe. From this week's Business Update on KPCC:

Steve Julian: People interested in the NFL may well be wondering whether the league will provide any clarity on an L.A. team at an upcoming owners meeting. Mark Lacter, you're a business analyst, what do you think?

Mark Lacter: Are you serious, Steve? Has the league ever provided clarity on bringing pro football back to L.A.? And now that Tim Leiweke is no longer chief executive of AEG - he, of course, had been the major dealmaker and cheerleader for getting an NFL team - the prospects are a lot less clear. The big question is whether Leiweke's old boss, the Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, is willing to cut a deal with the league by building a new downtown stadium. Frankly, it's doubtful. However things go, it would seem to be time for city officials to move on. They've been playing footsie with the NFL owners for years - and so far, it's amounted to a big fat zero. Actually, it's been worse than zero, considering the time and energy that's been spent working on various development ideas.

Julian: There are some good reasons for having an NFL team here.

Lacter: No question, but the city has survived without a team for almost 20 years. It'll have a much harder time surviving a seriously high jobless rate, a troubled education system, terrible traffic and - of course - a chronic budget shortfall. So, maybe the focus should be on those issues instead of whether Philip Anschutz likes pro football (apparently he doesn't, by the way). They also might want to focus less on remaking the Convention Center, which AEG had agreed to finance as part of the stadium project.