Pasadena, Calif. ? The Rose Bowl is making an effort to attract an NFL team back to the Los Angeles area..

Maryland-based sports consultant John Moag, the man widely credited with luring the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in 1995, is being retained for such a purpose. The Los Angeles area has been without an NFL team since the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders to Oakland before the 1995 season.

Rose Bowl General Manager Darryl Dunn said Moag will work on a two-year contract, but has a five-year window to bring a team to the Rose Bowl. Moag will be paid nothing if the city of Pasadena is unable to secure a 15-year commitment from an NFL franchise by Aug. 1, 2007.

If Moag does secure such a commitment, he will be paid $2.5 million, which Dunn proposes will come from the NFL and/or the relocated franchise.

That fee could rise to $5 million if Moag’s company, Moag LLC, invests more than 1,000 hours or incurs financial commitments of $1 million to other parties in its efforts on behalf of the Rose Bowl.

Moag’s hiring is subject to the approval of the Rose Bowl Operating Company and the Pasadena city council, but since both groups gave Dunn the go-ahead in February to pursue a major tenant for the Rose Bowl, such approvals are likely formalities.

Moag LLC is a sports, media and entertainment investment banking firm that Moag formed last December. He was chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority in 1995, when Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening put him in charge of finding a replacement for the Baltimore Colts, who left Baltimore in 1984.

A few months later, the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore.