In 1994, when Rams owner Georgia Frontiere took her team to St. Louis and Raiders dictator Al Davis accepted an offer to go back to Oakland with his Raiders, the cities of Los Angeles and Anaheim suddenly found themselves with millions of customers and no product. A decade later, both cities are attempting to put together stadium packages in an effort to entice an owner to relocate his or her business to the nation’s second biggest market. But it hasn’t been a cakewalk.

After Davis left, Seattle Seahawks owner Ken Behring thought about moving his franchise to Los Angeles. After the NFL awarded Los Angeles a conditional expansion franchise in 1999, neither city nor state officials could find the money to build a new stadium or renovate the L.A. Coliseum. The expansion franchise instead went to Houston.

The NFL has not given up on returning to Los Angeles, but stadium funding has not been forthcoming in recent years from Los Angeles and California officials. Now, with several franchises looking for a new opportunity and the L.A. market still waiting to be exploited, the NFL is again willing to put up money for a stadium and bring its product to five million fans.

Should the NFL provide money for the renovation of the Los Angeles Coliseum or Anaheim build a football stadium near Angels Stadium, NFL owners looking for a better stadium deal in a more lucrative market will certainly consider moving their franchises. But, as the league well knows, no one is going to L.A. or Anaheim until a stadium plan is in place.

Nine days ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars were scratched off the list of potential tenants. Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver and Jacksonville officials have crafted a deal that includes a reduction in the Jaguars’ annual rent to the city in exchange for the city’s procurement of stadium revenues from non-Jaguars events. The city and franchise will also split revenues for stadium and stadium restaurant naming rights beginning in 2007. The agreement will keep the franchise in the city for the foreseeable future.

Weaver has dropped out of the Los Angeles race, but there are plenty of other NFL owners looking at the possibility of moving west. The list includes San Diego’s Alex and Dean Spanos, San Francisco’s John and Denise DeBartolo-York, Minnesota’s Ziggy Wilf, Kansas City’s Lamar and Clark Hunt, and New Orleans’s Tom Benson.

Of all the candidates, the Spanos family in nearby San Diego would seem the likeliest candidates to start talking to Los Angeles officials once they can legally do so in 2007. The Chargers franchise lease with San Diego ends following the 2008 season.

The Spanos family has gotten nowhere with San Diego officials since Alex Spanos made it clear in March 2000 that he wanted a new stadium for the Chargers. But now that the Chargers have found success and the city is finding itself a new mayor and City Council, Spanos may be able to resuscitate stadium talks.

To hedge his bets, Spanos hired former Clinton White House special counsel Mark Fabiani as his point man in his negotiations with the city. Fabiani’s resume includes four years of service as deputy mayor of Los Angeles and chief of staff to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. Spanos once owned a USFL franchise in Los Angeles and, not surprisingly, is a major campaign contributor to Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle.

Five hundred miles north in San Francisco, the Yorks have been taking a closer look at Los Angeles. In 1997, San Francisco voters approved a football stadium/mall concept that was supposed to house the 49ers. But then-owner Eddie DeBartolo ran into legal problems and was forced to hand the business to his sister and brother-in-law, Denise and John York. The Yorks didn’t like DeBartolo’s concept and have been looking for a new stadium in San Francisco. If they can’t find one, there’s no reason to believe they won’t at least use the concept of a move to L.A. as a bargaining chip with their home city.

American Football League founder Lamar Hunt moved his Dallas Texans franchise in 1963 to Kansas City, where they became the Chiefs. Hunt and his son Clark are currently seeking renovations at Arrowhead Stadium, and the issue may come to a head soon. Jackson County, Missouri, does not have the funds to make the required repairs to both Arrowhead and the Royals, Kauffman Stadium. Contractually, if the stadiums are not maintained at “state of the art” standards, the teams can break their leases and go elsewhere. The Chiefs and Royals might be able to leave within two years. The Hunts and Jackson County officials are seeking a solution, but the Hunts, like everyone else, could view Los Angeles as an extremely appealing alternative.

Finally, the NFL and Benson are trying to play the politically correct game in the aftermath of the devastating hurricane season. Many are convinced that Benson will move his Saints once it is confirmed that the city of New Orleans doesn’t have the financial wherewithal to support an NFL franchise. But Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has recently talked about making the Saints a regional franchise, Louisiana’s team along with Gulf Coast Mississippi. In fact, one name being bandied about is the Gulf Coast Saints.

Benson, however, may be offered an extremely lucrative San Antonio deal that will include guaranteed sellouts and a renovated San Antonio Alamodome. Benson is extremely comfortable in San Antonio,where he owns car dealerships. But the NFL would rather make a clean move to Los Angeles than set up shop in San Antonio.

The NFL wants to install a team – or even two – into L.A. by 2010 to keep both CBS and FOX satisfied that both networks have an L.A. team. But despite an apparent bevy of enticed organizations, pulling it off will be a difficult task.

Los Angeles and Anaheim still lack stadium plans, Al Davis is still battling the league in court over territorial rights to the market which he claims are still his, and all those owners who are unhappy could hammer out deals with local governments and stay in their cities. The NFL gave L.A. an expansion team in 1999 and every opportunity to start play in 2002. It didn’t happen. As much as Tagliabue wants a team in L.A. in 2009, there is no guarantee that will happen either.