When the Rams filed their relocation application with the National Football League on Monday, the 29-page submission included three parts: The team explained why the Los Angeles area was a good fit, why St. Louis was a bad fit and how the National Football League itself would benefit from a Rams move to LA.
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The Raiders and Chargers, whose current stadiums are the oldest in the NFL, have advanced plans for a shared stadium in Carson, California, roughly 10 miles from a 300-acre Inglewood site where Rams’ owner Stan Kroenke plans to build the league’s biggest stadium as the centerpiece of a much larger entertainment development.
That thanks-but-no-thanks mindset was never more apparent than in a section in the application titled, “No NFL Club Would Be Interested In The RSA’s New St. Louis Stadium”.
L.A. hasn’t had a football team since the Raiders and the Rams left in 1994, but the league wants to move quickly to try to resolve this three-way conflict, because it’s awkward for owners to compete against each other this way.
The application cited two NFL-commissioned studies of the Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland and St. Louis markets.
The NFL is eyeing relocation fees of $550 million from the team or teams moving to Los Angeles.
The Rams stated that the St. Louis region is losing population and lacks the economic drivers to support the NFL and despite “significant” investments in the team, game attendance still lags below the league average.
The Rams and Raiders also issued statements. Out of 21 seasons in St. Louis, they’ve fielded four winners, including the 1999 Super Bowl title team and 2001 team that lost to Patriots in the Super Bowl.
There remain obstacles for each of the teams to move to Los Angeles, the No. 2 market in the nation. And the teams will get to keep all of this revenue for themselves, even though they have to share most ticket sales with the league.
“The more San Diego has done the less engaged the Chargers have become”, he wrote on Twitter.
Each team submitted the appropriate documentation in support of its application as required by the NFL Policy and Procedures for Proposed Franchise Relocations, according to the league. “An owners’ meeting is scheduled to take place in Houston, Texas on January 12 and 13, 2016”.
Included in the details of the Inglewood proposal is that the new stadium would not open until 2019, but the Rams have agreed to play in the NFL’s worldwide series at least once a year while occupying a temporary venue. From there, the L.A. committee may make a formal recommendation to the owners that they would all vote on in their meeting next week.
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The Chargers walked away from negotiations with the city and county in mid-June.
