Amy Trask: ‘We Will See A Team In Los Angeles’

If you believe the rumors and rumblings, Los Angeles will once again have an NFL team – and sooner rather than later.

“I believe it will,” former Raiders CEO and current That Other Pregame Show and We Need to Talk panelist Amy Trask said on The Morning Show. “I know that it’s heating up. Had you asked me 20 years ago when the Rams and the Raiders left this market whether we would still be having this conversation this many years later, I would have looked at you cross-eyed and told you that you were nutty. I am surprised it has taken this length of time. If you had suggested to me it might take 10 years, I would say, ‘All right, that’s fair.’ If you had suggested to me 20 years, as I said, I would have looked at you like you were nutty.

“But I do believe we will see a team back in this market,” Trask continued. “I’m not convinced that it’s going to be two teams, but I do think we will see a team back sooner rather than later.”

Why did Los Angeles lose its teams to begin with? Were the fans not engaged? Was it stadium-related? Was it something else?

“It was primarily stadium-related,” Trask said. “And I certainly don’t want to speak on the Rams’ behalf, as I wasn’t part of that organization. In the case of the Raiders, it was stadium-related. This is a good market for football. This is a terrific market. I used to do the math with Al Davis and I used to say, ‘Look, here’s the size of the market place. Here’s the size of the stadium. We need (a tiny fraction of one percent) of the population (to come to games in order to be successful). Just do the math. You can fill a stadium here. You can fill suites here.’ I don’t have any doubts whatsoever over this market place.”

In other NFL news, Cowboys fans are impatiently waiting to see whether Tony Romo will play against Jacksonville this Sunday in Wembley Stadium.

“It’s a tough, tough question,” Trask said. “Intellectually, when you look at these two teams, you think absolutely Dallas should be able to beat Jacksonville no matter (who starts at quarterback). But this is the NFL, and we talk about any given Sunday. We see teams go out and beat other teams on any given Sunday. Maybe I’d feel a little differently if this was a home-game for the Cowboys. It’s on neutral turf. It’s a tough question.

“If we were with the Cowboys and we knew that no matter what we would beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in London, well then of course you sit him and you get those three weeks rest (to help heal his back). But what you’re thinking about with the team is, ‘What if we lose? What if we lose this game to Jacksonville?’”

Dana Jacobson has an idea: Give DeMarco Murray the ball!

Trask wholeheartedly agrees. In fact, she was “screaming” at the television at the end of Dallas’ overtime loss to Washington, as the Cowboys failed to convert a first down on 2nd-and-2. Even worse, they dropped back to pass with an injured quarterback – despite having the league’s leading rusher in the backfield.

“How do you not hand the ball to Murray?” Trask asked. “Let me tell you guys something: These are the things that make club executives age in dog years.”