There’s another soap opera operating in the National Football League. Sort of an “As the Turnstile Turns” or maybe “The Edge of Turf” or “All My Millions.”

The issue is the lack of an NFL team in the second largest market in the U.S., namely Los Angeles. That, along with the Minnesota Vikings wish for a new stadium, spells intrigue.

Len Pasquarelli, a senior writer for ESPN.com, has pulled together some of the story. He said the plot thickened when Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz announced plans for building a new stadium in downtown LA. His target date is 2005, but it won’t be worth much without a team to play in it.

On the other hand, Billy Joe McCombs, who owns the Vikings, wants a new place in which to field his team.

He is not so much disenchanted with Minnesota as he is with the old Metrodome. And he’s not so much disenchanted with the age of the Metrodome as he is with its inability to produce revenue.

According to Pasquarelli, the Vikings sold out every home game last year and for the coming season but were next to last in revenue for the 2001 season. The reason is that the Metrodome doesn’t have enough luxury suites and club seats, which is where the real money is. He also notes that stadium revenue and team competitiveness seem to have a direct relationship.

The Minnesota legislature recently passed a bill to finance a new stadium for baseball’s Twins. They also tossed McCombs a few crumbs by making some concessions which would allow the Vikings to share a new stadium with the University of Minnesota Gophers.

The NFL itself is providing “resistance from behind” since the professional football vacuum in LALA Land is a thorn in its side.

Pasquarelli says there are some roadblocks between Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Not the least of which is the Minnesota court system which took on Bud Selig and baseball to halt the contraction of that monopoly and extend the life of the Twins.

Another is a letter written by former NFL commissioner, the late Pete Rozelle, which promises the Twin Cities a franchise until the lease on the Metrodome expires, and that won’t happen until 2011.

Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, who knows a little about pressure holds, claims McCombs is only threatening to move his team so that taxpayer money will be used to build him a new stadium.

Speaking of franchises and taking your show on the road, NASCAR is talking about doing just that with The Winston. The Winston is NASCAR’s All-star show. It doesn’t pay any points toward the season championship but it pays some big bucks.

Jerry Bonkowski, who covers NASCAR for ESPN.com, says the organization is threatening to take its multimillion dollar ball and go elsewhere.

The Winston has been held each year for the past 17. For the past 16 it has been run at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC. The track is owned by Bruton Smith. Bonkowski says that Smith and his right-hand-man, Humpy Wheeler, have invested money and effort into their facility which has helped make The Winston a big fan attraction.

This includes aggressive marketing and installation of lights which make it possible to showcase the race at night when more folks are inside watching TV.

But Smith doesn’t kowtow to the NASCAR family. He goes his own way, a way which has led him to the top post at Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which owns tracks that host nine Winston Cup races.

Smith continually asks that some of his tracks be given a second Winston Cup date. He points out that it is more profitable to stage a second race at a 200 thousand seat facility like his Texas Motor Speedway than at an 85 thousand seat bullring like Martinsville.

Smith also knows that when there is no event going on at a track, there is no revenue going into the till. For that reason, his facilities host a variety of events, some not even racing related.

But he has agreed to host as many as a dozen events of the new TRAC stock car series, scheduled to get started next year. This has the oligarchs at NASCAR fuming.

Bonkowski says that is why they now are saying that, beginning in 2003, The Winston should be moved around from track to track, so that other facilities can share in the success he says Smith and Wheeler made possible.