“We’re a game of rules and the rules need to be followed by everyone”, the NFL commissioner said Wednesday at the league’s owners’ meetings in New York City. “Our relocation policy is very important”.
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The National Football League has not had teams in Los Angeles since the Rams and Raiders both moved in 1995.
Owners agreed to the cross-ownership plan at their meeting today. But Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney said he doesn’t envision that.
“We haven’t committed to any games in London, but it would be a big surprise to me if we went backward”, Waller said.
So in a odd turn of events, it sounds like the Rams are purposely leaking information to the public about how much keeping the team in the city would cost them, while politicians in St. Louis are still fighting for the team to stay regardless.
Eric Grubman, the league’s main point man on Los Angeles, added that the NFL is not married to a vote in January, either, and that it could come later, particularly if one of the applicants is in the playoffs.
The Raiders have become an afterthought with the Rams-Chargers impasse. I think there’s also an interest in being back in the entertainment capital of the world.
Goodell stressed that there are still efforts to reach stadium deals in each of the team’s existing homes.
“Protecting the integrity of the game is not something we’re going to compromise”, Goodell said.
The agreement to hold games outside the United States expires next year, and an extension will be presented to the owners that would carry through 2025. Mexico, Germany and Canada are among those interested in regular-season games, with Mexico a front-runner next year. “It would be a logical place to start”. That is a 10-year deal.
Now, other locales very much are in play. “We have great momentum”.
The league also is looking at moving the Pro Bowl to global sites. Brazil has expressed interest in the all-star game, and Waller said Australia, South Africa and Asia also were potential sites, but probably not before early 2018.
Goodell was asked a few times about the Deflategate scandal involving the Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady.
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What’s more, Buffalo owner Terry Pegula told the Sun in March he informed the league upon buying the Bills a year ago he would “support” the idea of Toronto getting a franchise, which Goodell confirmed.
