NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during a news conference at the conclusion of the league’s fall meetings, in NY.
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The Rams may face the most trouble at home: The St Louis Post-Dispatch just published a dartboard featuring owner Stan Kroenke’s face after the team rubbished the city’s stadium proposal and its economy in its relocation application.
According to Sam Farmer and Nathan Fenno of the L.A. Times, “a consensus is building within the league” to have the Chargers and Rams move to Los Angeles and share the proposed stadium in Inglewood backed by the Rams.
There’s no definite way to tell which team has the most fan support in Los Angeles, but the two that moved after the 1994 season both have strong cases.
All three franchises have formally applied to the National Football League to relocate to Los Angeles. And Spanos might also fear the enormous debt he would incur as he partners with Kroenke on a stadium whose cost owners believe eventually will be well over $2 billion.
The league has said a decision on the relocation bids could come on either of those two days, and any team that ends up moving will pay a $US550 million relocation fee. “There’s a lot of questions and there are not answers to every question yet”. St. Louis was the farthest along, committing $400 million to a $1.1 billion project on the riverfront. The rest of the money comes from the state, either through tax credits or bonds.
In particular, the Raiders said the city and county reneged on a written proposal to contribute almost 170 acres and $100 million in infrastructure to the new stadium project.
According to the New York Times, the top proposal is that the Rams move to Inglewood, and the Chargers and Raiders to Carson.
Houston owner Bob McNair, a member of the relocation committee, canceled a meeting with San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer last month, and made disparaging public remarks about city leadership.
It’s an all-too-familiar scenario for the team’s fan base – known as Raider Nation – as the franchise left Oakland for Los Angeles after the 1981 season before returning in 1995. The Chargers’ owner, Dean Spanos, is considered the most popular of the three, while some owners do not feel inclined to help Mark Davis, the owner of the Raiders, because they still resent his father, Al Davis, who was often at odds with the league when he owned the team before his death in 2011.
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Like Cleveland, Houston and Baltimore did, leave the name with the home city and start a new franchise like the successful Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts did when they moved the franchise. A development that will make those in Oakland who felt that if Los Angeles failed that the Raiders would be forced to make things work to stay in their current home.
