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NFL could approve an L.A. team before end of season

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http://hosted.stats.com/fb/story.asp?i=20150520023335235659408&ref=hea&tm=&src=

 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Los Angeles might be in the NFL's future sooner than anyone thought.

 

The NFL could approve a team move to Los Angeles by the end of the year, with a club playing in the area by the 2016 season.

 

NFL vice president Eric Grubman, the league's lead man on a possible return to LA, said Wednesday the window for such applications that now begins Jan. 1 could be moved "to very late in the (upcoming) regular season." The 32 team owners could vote on a team's relocation "some weeks after that."

 

The team would play in an existing stadium until a new one is built.

 

Grubman said there were several options, though he declined to list them beyond the Rose Bowl and LA Coliseum, which was the Raiders' home before heading back to Oakland in 1995. Anaheim, where the Rams played before leaving for St. Louis that same year, also could be a temporary home for a relocated team, as could Dodger Stadium.

 

Grubman said there has been enough progress "to the point where we think there could be at least one, and maybe two relocation proposals available to act on in time for the 2016 season. It's not done, so I don't label it as certain."

 

Commissioner Roger Goodell also was upbeat on LA.

 

"We're significantly farther than we have been on any relocation in the recent past," he said as the meetings concluded.

 

The Rams, Raiders and Chargers are involved in stadium projects in the Los Angeles area that Commissioner Roger Goodell has called "viable." Grubman said there have been discussions on moving one or two teams if no acceptable stadium projects come together in the current markets. San Diego and Oakland have teamed up on one LA project, in Carson, California. The Rams' project is in Inglewood.

 

"I think that when clubs have spent years trying to get something done and have reached that point in time where they explore their alternatives," Grubman added at the spring owners meetings, "whether it's in Los Angeles or any other market, and that exploration provides something that they can actually go do, then what happens is the timeframe gets defined."

 

The NFL also said if a stadium is built by 2018, Los Angeles would be a candidate to host the 2020 Super Bowl. Tampa, New Orleans, Atlanta and South Florida already are contenders for the games of 2019 and 2020.

 

A special owners meeting could be called for August should there be enough progress in Southern California - or even by St. Louis, Oakland and San Diego toward retaining their teams.

 

Grubman stressed that the burden is on St. Louis, San Diego and Oakland to present attractive stadium proposals to keep their teams. A new $1 billion stadium has been proposed in St. Louis; Rams owner Stan Kroenke is planning to build a $1.8 billion facility in Inglewood.

 

San Diego and Oakland are much further behind on any stadium projects.

 

"There are some really important variables that are beyond our control," Grubman said. "Most important is what the home markets do. That will define what each of the clubs wants to do and what the membership will do."

 

Colts owner Jim Irsay, familiar with moving a franchise because his father did so from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984, has little doubt the NFL will be back in Los Angeles soon.

 

"One thing for certain is there's going to be an NFL team in Los Angeles in the next couple of years," Irsay said. "That's exciting. The question isn't if, but how many, I guess."

 

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I hate relocating franchises. I hope this can be stopped.

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I have been saying for years that this is a terrible idea. One that has been tried and failed many times before. Several times in the past the NFL has seen dollar signs in Los Angeles and put a team there. Every time they do, said team gets run out of town by a population that just doesn't give a shit about football. I have seen nothing that idicates the exact same thing isn't going to happen yet again. This is one lesson the NFL just seems to refuse to learn. The only people who will make any money from a football team being put in L.A. are the people betting on how long it takes the team to leave town.

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Is it lack of support or stadium issues? I was always under the impression that it was due to stadium leases/quality of stadiums.

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Is it lack of support or stadium issues? I was always under the impression that it was due to stadium leases/quality of stadiums.

 

Yep, stadium issues. No team in the NFL has ever moved due to lack of attendance, although when your stadium is trash and your team is, you're likely to not have great attendance either. But it's always been and always will be about the stadium; between the owner and the city — when you're talking relocation.

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Well the SD CSAG proposed a fairly reasonable plan to keep the Chargers in SD. The stadium would be built in Mission Valley, same area where Qualcomm is. I just visited Qualcomm a few months ago and I have to say that MV is a very nice area. It seems like the financing is the big question mark with the plan and will probably be heavily negotiated. It's nice to have something on the table (finally) for keeping the team where it belongs. Still most articles have it as a long shot of them staying but I'm convinced the LA/Carson plan is a bluff.

 

My guess would be the Rams move to LA...seems inevitable, the Chargers share the stadium for a season while the MV stadium is being constructed. Though I from what i've read I believe the new stadium is at a different site than Qualcomm so they could play there in theory. But for money reasons they may want to sell the land in order to fund the stadium's construction.

 

Concept pic of the SD stadium plan:

sdstadium_r620x349.jpg?75d51d0aea2efce51

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Yep, stadium issues. No team in the NFL has ever moved due to lack of attendance, although when your stadium is trash and your team is, you're likely to not have great attendance either. But it's always been and always will be about the stadium; between the owner and the city — when you're talking relocation.

the Oilers left Houston earlier than they'd planned because nobody came to games, granted that didn't start until after they announced they were moving to Tennessee because Houston wouldn't build them a new stadium, but they did speed up the move based on poor attendance

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Right. So it can speed up the process but won't cause it :yep:

 

@ Ryan, I lived near Mission Valley in San Diego there it is a nice area for sure. Younger too, and not as frat bro'd out as Pacific Beach is. I do think it's gonna be the Rams moving to LA first for sure too. The ideas seem more plausible and they're further along I think plus it's one team vs getting two teams to move.

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I'd prefer that no team relocate, but if one is going to, then it should be one of the two that's already in California.

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Chargers/Raiders leggo.

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Whether it's the Rams or the Raiders...the Chargers seem like a common denominator. :sigh:

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Two LA teams playing twice a year though? That could be interesing. Especially if they were two Cali teams andI think the games could be pretty competitive in that match up right from the start. On the other hand though the Rams and Raiders both have history in LA.

Edited by seanbrock

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If one team struggled to be successful in LA, why would they think two would work? :think:

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This is stupid. LA lost two teams. Maybe they should just have one (or none, because relocations are shitty).

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Problem with the NFL is that they only see things in $$$. As long as they think L.A. is a viable market they'll put a team there, failure or not.

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I've never understood how a metro area that supports 2 baseball teams, 2 basketball teams, a women's basketball team, a soccer team, and even 2 F'n hockey teams can't support 1 football franchise.

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Los Angeles stadium could bring shift in NFL divisions
AUG 17, 2015
LOS ANGELES -- Construction of an NFL stadium in the Los Angeles area could come with another change: a possible shift in division for the Oakland Raiders or the San Diego Chargers.
The teams have proposed a shared $1.78 billion stadium in the city of Carson -- one of two stadium projects being considered by the NFL near Los Angeles that could bring professional football back to the region after a two-decade absence.
Carmen Policy, a former San Francisco 49ers executive who was hired to help oversee the Carson project, said Monday that the teams have agreed to shift divisions, if necessary, to make the project acceptable to the league.
The Chargers and Raiders are rivals in the AFC West, which could make game scheduling and other issues difficult in a shared stadium.

 

interesting, I'm not sure what the new divisions would look like, but I'd imagine it would just be swapping one of the two teams with an NFC West team as it'd be weird to put an LA team in a non-West division

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I demand shared stadium and two games a year against each other.

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San Diego has given the Chargers up until this friday, September 11th, to agree to their Mission Valley proposal, (I posted some details about this proposal on the first page). This could be it for them staying in San Diego. It's the only proposed solution as of yet aside from the LA plans. I'm actually quite interested to see fan reactions if nothing happens. I'm sure the Chargers would've loved to let this season go and make their move in the offseason when revenues wouldn't be under threat. This deadline seems like kind of a "f you" from the city.

 

I don't know what I'm going to do guys. :sigh:

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Well we are two days away from the owners meeting where the projects will be voted on. A lot of buzz going around of the Rams being forced to take the Chargers on as a co-partner/tenant in Inglewood/LA.

 

Some interesting talking points from this article: (It's a bit long)

 

 

Per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Tribune

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jan/08/still-looking-for-answers-as-nfl-set-to-return-to/

 

Will there be a team in Los Angeles in 2016?

Almost certainly. Owners believe the readiness of the proposed L.A. projects makes the timing right. Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has made his intentions known to many owners, is expected to officially endorse an immediate return. There is a nearly unanimous sentiment among owners that the Chargers have exhausted efforts in San Diego, and there is a desire by many owners to reward Rams owner Stan Kroenke for his Inglewood project being the catalyst for the frenetic work done toward this end over the past 12 months. Further, owners are tired of this issue. The league is actually counting on that fatigue to be part of the impetus to get a vote done.

Will there be two teams in L.A.?

Again, almost certainly. However, it still could be that one team is approved to move immediately and another conditionally. Various sources have laid out multiple possibilities that have been discussed at the committee level and could end up on the table in Houston. The Carson site could be approved, and the Chargers and Raiders could move. The Inglewood site could win, and the Rams would move with a high likelihood that one of the other teams would be their partner/tenant. The frontrunner to be that second team is the Chargers. However, it still is possible owners would vote to approve the Chargers relocation bid while allowing for a 2016 vote in San Diego. If a financing plan was not approved by San Diego voters, the Chargers would then be allowed to move to Los Angeles.

So San Diego still has a chance?

Yes. There are some who believe some sort of partnership between Chargers chairman Dean Spanos and Kroenke will yet be brokered – either in Houston or in the days following. However, an effect of having that partnership forced on him could be that Spanos decides to give San Diego one more try. This scenario is considered a longshot due to the staunch belief by the team and the NFL that a vote in San Diego will fail. But some believe a last-ditch attempt in San Diego could be more attractive to Spanos than simply conceding to become the No.2 team in L.A. And that’s not our only opportunity for a rebound …

What happens to the team that is not approved to relocate?

The NFL will not send a team back to its home market with no options. The foremost prospect has the Raiders being the odd team out, returning to Oakland and waiting. The NFL holds little faith something will get done in Oakland, but there is a commitment by the league to facilitate their next move. Raiders owner Mark Davis, in fact, is seen by some as practically eager to move to San Diego. Should the Rams be denied, virtually no one in the NFL expects Stan Kroenke to remain in St. Louis indefinitely. London or San Diego are the leading potential landing spots if he can’t be in Los Angeles. The NFL will be closely watching how San Diego responds if it loses the Chargers – primarily Mayor Kevin Faulconer and other officials. The league has noted a subtle shift in the private tone of city officials – from one focused on the immediate goal of keeping the Chargers to a more long-term play to be “an NFL city.” Most important, San Diego would still have to approve some sort of public financing before a team officially agrees to move there. It has been proposed that the NFL could help the “losing” team with extra money to build in its home market or even waive or reduce a relocation fee if it were to move to one of the vacated markets.

Can San Diego keep the Chargers name and logo?

It is not likely. The Spanos family is attached to the brand. In Los Angeles, they would likely alter their uniforms at some point, perhaps going back to powder blue scheme. The NFL investigated the idea of requiring the name to remain in San Diego as a goodwill gesture, but it believes that it is far more likely an existing team moves to San Diego and wouldn’t want to adopt the Chargers name. The NFL also believes it would actually be good for fans (and the league) to have a villain in the Chargers for San Diego fans to root against should the city get another team.

At this point, the thought of two teams in LA is crazy to me. They would both be sharing the ancient Coliseum stadium built in the 1920s next season.

 

I think it's very likely that the Rams move into LA because they have the means and the proposed Inglewood site is the real deal. The Raiders and Chargers are probably both told to get something done in their home markets. This way, the NFL still has the threat of having a second team in LA, all while testing the market with the Rams.

 

I would really love for the Chargers name to stay in SD just in case there would ever be a relocation or expansion back into SD. I also find it interesting that the loser of the vote could be looking at SD as a potential market right away.

Edited by BJORN

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