Los Angeles, NFL reach agreement

? The NFL and city officials have reached a preliminary agreement on terms to bring a team back to the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue made the announcement Thursday on the steps of City Hall. But he didn’t identify a potential tenant or speculate when Los Angeles might get the team.

He also spoke positively about a team playing at a facility proposed for the Angel Stadium parking lot in Anaheim and didn’t rule out the Rose Bowl in Pasadena as a possible home field, either.

As Tagliabue entered a limousine, he was asked if he could assess the significance of what he had just announced. He replied, “I’d rather not try.”

The commissioner did say: “It’s the first time we’ve had agreement on term sheets. We’re one step closer, two or three steps closer. Whether it’s 2009, 2010, or 2000-whatever, our goal is to have definitive agreements on all subject matters well before our league meetings in March.”

The Los Angeles area, the second-largest television market in the country, has been without an NFL team since the Raiders moved from the Coliseum back to Oakland and the Rams moved from Anaheim to St. Louis before the 1995 season.