The St. Louis Rams are no more. City and county leaders even appear to be backing-off their previous stance that they’d need some type of substantial commitment from the Chargers to stay in San Diego before further exploring a downtown stadium option.
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The Chargers were also given a second date of March 23, 2016. The dormant contingent of L.A. Rams fans was no more. But that project was voted down Tuesday night, setting the stage for a potential Rams-Chargers venture.
“Their home cities and hometown fans are commodities to be abandoned once they no longer suit the league’s purposes”, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay told the Associated Press.
“When we had our first vote, we did not have the necessary number of votes to approve the proposal, so it was a matter of trying to determine what our owners wanted and what kind of compromise we could come up with that would satisfy enough of them”, Houston Texans owner Bob McNair said.
“We’re going to do very well without NFL football in St. Louis”, he said.
Since returning to the Bay Area from Los Angeles, the Raiders have had their annual training camp at Redwood Middle School. “Don’t feel bad. We’ll get it right”. The Los Angeles Raiders played at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum from 1982-1994, before returning to Oakland in 1995.
Spanos is not expected to pursue a deal with the Rams and a new stadium in San Diego at the same.
Here is the original breakdown of the financing for the proposed stadium in San Diego, before the extra 100 million was added. The vote in June must be approved.
Under the terms of the Inglewood deal, the Raiders have the option of moving there should Spanos decide to stay in San Diego.
The Chargers played at the Coliseum in their inaugural 1960 season when they were a member of the American Football League, then moved to San Diego in 1961. According to current negotiations, the San Diego Charges will have an option to share the facility, located in the L.A. suburb of Inglewood. The Chargers would help offset the cost of the stadium but Kroenke is a rich dude.
They must decide where to play on Sundays until their palatial, billion-dollar new home in Inglewood is completed in 2019. “I think a lot of jerseys are being burned, maybe with a little voodoo doll of Stan Kroenke, who knows”, says Wistrom.
The Rams’ ticket office was closed Wednesday, but it will have plenty of work to do after a temporary venue is chosen. This gives the Rams an advantage on fans, corporate deals, sponsors and media deals.
A wistful Ellis recalled how in the late-1990s, Bowlen was part of the league’s Los Angeles working group that along with NFL employees named Goodell and Ellis toured the Hollywood Park site that Kroenke will now use for his new stadium.
Kroenke promised a future for the team in St. Louis as recently as 2014 in a radio interview, fans said in a complaint filed Wednesday in Missouri state court.
Just getting another shot to keep the team is great news for fans in Oakland.
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“We’ll see where the Raider Nation ends up here”, he continued. The Raiders can commit roughly $500 million (before the new money), leaving more work to do.
