The league is meeting in Houston this week to ideally come to a conclusion on what to do regarding Los Angeles, a market that has been without professional football for 20 years despite the near-certainty of instantly polarizing theater, and the cash that comes with it. But it’s unclear if the project has the needed 24 votes among all the league owners to win approval.
Advertisement
One influential owner whose preference has not been apparent in public or private, touted Inglewood over Carson, saying “the deals aren’t even close”. Earlier, a proposal sending the Rams along to Inglewood as well as a proposal floated by the Cowboys that would send the Rams and Chargers to Inglewood were pulled from the ballot.
All three franchises have formally applied to the National Football League to relocate to Los Angeles.
Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times reports that “a consensus is building within the league for the St. Louis Rams and San Diego Chargers to share a stadium in Inglewood”.
“On December 7, the Chargers made clear in writing that we had zero interest in the Inglewood project, and nothing has changed since then”, Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani said Monday in a statement to USA TODAY Sports.
The Chargers and Raiders filed for relocation with intent to partner on a stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson. This makes the path to what is emerging as the preferred pairing more hard.
Another person familiar with the league’s L.A. discussions expressed similar views about the owners’ support for the Chargers and their chairman, Dean Spanos. A proposed partnership between Spanos and Kroenke would require the pair to determine if they are equal partners in the project or if the Chargers would merely be a tenant in a Rams-owned stadium – a distasteful proposition to Spanos.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer countered by establishing a task force that recommended building a new facility next to Qualcomm Stadium. The team’s refusal to restart talks prevented what could have been a citywide vote on the proposal this month.
“There’s no question the Chargers have more support than the others”, a high-ranking official with one NFL team said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the league’s deliberations are at a sensitive stage. The owners were still meeting.
Advertisement
“We could have already gained voter approval of a stadium under the plan laid out this summer by the city and county”, Melvin said. However, he also estimates that about ten owners are solidly against the Raiders and are supporting the Rams instead.
