Ever since the Rams and Raiders packed their bags and headed out of Los Angeles in 1994, there have been numerous attempts to bring a professional football team back to the number two television market in the country. For nearly two decades, NFL teams have used the threat of relocating to Los Angeles to get new taxpayer-funded stadiums built in their respective cities. The wait is finally over…well, sort of. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, who have attached the KISS name and logo to virtually every imaginable item (including KISS caskets), are bringing professional football back to L.A. with an expansion Arena Football team called – you guessed it – the L.A. KISS.
Simmons and Stanley are not the first rock stars to own an Arena Football team. That distinction belongs to Jon Bon Jovi, who was a majority owner of the Philadelphia Soul until 2010. Bon Jovi’s bandmate, Richie Sambora, also held a minority stake in the team at one point. However, while the boys from Bon Jovi may have been the first rock stars to own a professional football team, Simmons and Stanley are the first to actually make it an extension of the brand that they have built up through the years.
“As a fast-paced, high-action band, this partnership with the AFL was an obvious fit for us” stated Simmons. “Attending an L.A. KISS game in 2014 will be similar to a live KISS show, with thrilling, heart-pounding action.”
The L.A. KISS are not likely to quench the desire to bring an NFL team to Los Angeles, but it should make things interesting until that day finally arrives.
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