Conversations this week among NFL owners in Chicago about new stadiums for three teams – the Chargers, Rams and Raiders – are only the latest in which prospects in Oakland were little more than an afterthought.
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During a press conference announcing a new financial plan for the stadium, San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer also presented new stadium renderings and a draft of an environmental impact report (EIR).
Among the items on the agenda: The Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers briefed owners on their efforts in Carson and the St. Louis Rams updated owners on their Inglewood project.
Harrison has the Seahawks as the NFC West’s top team heading into the preseason, ranked 2nd overall just behind the Packers. In fact, Ramblin’ Fan was a part of ESPN’s Outside the Lines on Monday evening to talk about the possibility of the Rams staying in St. Louis.
Kroenke presented the Rams first, followed by Policy on behalf of the Chargers and Raiders.
With all three of these teams looking to move to Los Angeles and there only being space for two teams, at best, the NFL is going to have to make some big decisions, and at least one team will not be happy.
Literally, nothing. Meetings between local politicians and developers who want to build stadiums in Alameda or in the proposed Coliseum City megadevelopment have gone nowhere.
“If the Chargers and Raiders go to L.A., what you’ve done is you’ve created a mega-market that runs from Santa Barbara to Mexico”, Policy said, “and you increase your population in the market by over 3.2 million people”.
It is clear to the committee that they are the underdog with the market that Los Angeles has to offer. And their hope is the NFL tells them that they are the team they want in Los Angeles. However the league says if a team moves it could be as fast as the 2016 season.
But Goodell said that timeline could be shortened or moved up, and longtime San Francisco 49ers executive Carmen Policy – who is leading the Carson bid on behalf of the Chargers and Raiders – predicted that it would happen “prior to the Super Bowl”, which will be played in Santa Clara on February 7, 2016. They have been in a holding pattern for months with the Raiders as well as the NFL.
NFL owners reportedly listened to the presentation for an Inglewood stadium for about an hour. The proposal does not rely on income from other development on the site, like shops and office buildings. At this point, Oakland is unlikely to be invited, because the league does not believe that city has put forth a serious proposal. Then the city and county unveiled updated plans for a new $1.1 billion stadium that were criticized by the Chargers.
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National Football League owners and commissioner Roger Goodell have been meeting in Chicago this week to discuss the future of the NFL in Los Angeles. As the meetings continue to pile up we can expect these negotiations to continue well into the regular season.
