To his dying day in 2011, Al Davis insisted the Los Angeles market belonged to the Raiders.
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It’s not quite Ron Burgundy telling San Diego to go f-k itself, but the Chargers have up to a year to decide if they want to join the Rams in Inglewood. But will the San Diego Chargers join them? Yesterday, NFL voters approved the Rams’ application to move to Los Angeles by a vote of 30-2.
Keep in mind, Spanos had just spent the past 12 months playing an intense, emotional chess game against Kroenke in which the Chargers’ and Raiders’ Carson relocation bid was pitted against Kroenke’s Inglewood stadium proposal.
The vote means that Kroenke can get started nearly immediately on his $1.86 billion stadium project in Inglewood, California.
“I think it’s appropriate, and would be helpful, to have the right kind of “We’re back” campaign”, Carter said.
“He’s giving us the opportunity with his great project to do what we need to do in Los Angeles”, said Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Kroenke said the Rams have offered the Chargers and Raiders “a partnership in the stadium as an owner, or we’ve offered the lease arrangements”. “This has really been excruciating for everyone”.
“I can’t forgive this”, Cohen said, in a segment in which he noted that St. Louis had recently topped The Wall Street Journal’s list of America’s top sports cities.
Spanos was traveling at the time from Houston, where National Football League owners held a daylong meeting Tuesday that resulted in the St. Louis Rams being chosen for a return to Los Angeles. The NFL gave it to them.
“We’ll see where the Raider Nation ends up here”, he continued. For our fans, don’t feel bad. And the Raiders, who thought they might be moving back to LA, are in silver and black limbo for now.
The Chargers play 120 miles south of Inglewood in aging Qualcomm Stadium.
With a further delay in convention center expansion, WonderCon in Los Angeles might become as large as CCI, if not larger.
If San Diego voters approve a financial package to build a stadium here, the Chargers’ Los Angeles option would be extended an additional year.
It seems certain that the Rams will get out of St. Louis and play some place else this upcoming season.
Still, it’s worth taking stock of the precedent that Rams owner Stan Kroenke is setting in departing from his hometown and a facility that is barely two decades old.
In response, St. Louis fans vented their sadness and anger, mixed with appreciation for the franchise that won a Super Bowl in 2000. “We understand the emotions involved of our fans”. “We made a decision and worked long and hard at the various alternatives. I had lunches with them, tried to facilitate, let them know this was a unified region, for whatever team, although the best one of the three I believe is here”.
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As mentioned, in a move that has angered Rams fans, Missouri’s governor Jay Nixon is not very happy. The Raiders and Rams both left Los Angeles after the 1994 season. The NFL said the Chargers have one year to make a decision. That fight could still have the team relocating should the team and the City of Oakland fail to come to an agreement on a new stadium.
