The Raiders and Rams would both be formalizing plans to move to Los Angeles in 2015 if not for NFL intervention and the league’s overriding control of the process, according to numerous sources with knowledge of the situation.
Both franchises continue to devote considerable time, energy and resources toward securing an eventual move. There is no lack of desire or intent by either club, sources said, however there is a fear of running afoul of the league office, which has made it explicitly clear to those clubs that no franchise will secure the 24 necessary votes to facilitate a relocation to LA without its stadium, property and development deals being approved by the NFL.
Both teams, whose current leases expire after the season, continue to actively seek solutions to their hurdles currently preventing them from moving to Southern California, sources said. “There are live discussions involving two clubs potentially relocating there,” as one source put it.
The Rams and Raiders still could end up there as soon as next season if they end up working together on a solution. The NFL continues to research and assess several sites for a potential league-owned stadium in LA.
And, sources said, it is conceivable that the parcel of land Rams owner Stan Kroenke controls around Hollywood Park race track, currently viewed as a “team-controlled site” could end up becoming a “league site” in essence if the Rams were willing to take on a second tenant from the origin of the project. And if the Rams worked closely with the league to ensure the financing, development plan, economic impact, etc are in line with what the NFL would want they would be able to secure a yes vote for relocation by at least two third of the owners (24 of 32).
The Chargers are also a possibility to move to LA, but have not moved nearly as far along in the process as the Rams and Raiders, sources said, and have not displayed the same motivation to move quickly. Furthermore, it could be difficult to get them aligned with Kroenke, assuming his land would end up being used for a new stadium. Chargers owner Dean Spanos, like Kroenke, has deep real estate experience and the area around a new stadium is a major piece of any LA deal – how it is developed and financed, etc.
Davis does not have nearly that same sort of interest in those areas – he is just desperate not to play another season in decrepit O.co Coliseum – and there is a sense in some league circles that he and Kroenke could end up making better bedfellows should this arrangement take place where two teams are playing in the Rose Bowl for a few years while construction of their new stadium takes place.
Don’t forget, it’s up to the NFL
Ultimately, the league could end up overseeing the entire stadium project on its own as well, or by working with another entity, like AEG, on its Farmers Field initiative. Sources said AEG did significantly alter the economic arrangements of its deal to make it more palatable to the NFL, but still not nearly to the point where it would actually be in play for two new teams. It remains an extreme longshot, sources said, and more major concessions would have to be made with how the spoils would be reaped before it gained any real traction.
If the relocation process were to actually begin in 2015, with teams filing relocation papers in February and bringing this to a vote, it could have the best odds if it’s coming through a parcel of land an NFL owner already controls, sources said.
No matter what, the NFL will control the process, through both the votes and also in regards to setting a relocation fee. Numerous league sources said Commissioner Roger Goodell, through his strong ties to the league’s powerful stadium and finance committee, has more than the requisite number of votes available to effectively kill any project a team pushes forward that does not meet the league’s standards.
“Any deal in LA has to be good for all 32 teams, not just one team or two teams,” one ownership sources said. And, sources said that for as much motivation as the Rams and Raiders have to leave, and for as frustrated as they have been at times about how the process must be conducted, both franchises fully realize that Goodell and the NFL would not flinch if a club tried to call their bluff and announced an intention to move without having a plan in place the league office had already in essence signed off on.
There aren’t any endarounds to be had, and while some outside counsel -- like banks, law firms and consultants -- may be advising an owner like Davis or Kroenke to go ahead and push the issue to a vote. They figure the NFL and its owners wouldn’t vote a move down and send an already financially handcuffed club back to a lame-duck market. But those within the NFL say the league very much would. “This isn’t happening unless the NFL wants it to happen,” said one source involved in the discussions. “Would you cross Roger right now?” added another.
At the same, time, the league recognizes the lack of options the Rams, Raiders and Chargers have right now and there is no lack of desire to have teams in LA as soon as it makes sense. If not in 2015, by 2016 two teams playing there is very viable. There is potential for the NFL to distribute general economic plans for a potential move by franchises during a brief December meeting, sources said, if the Rams and Raiders gain traction in the next few months, and, obviously, if those two teams were playing in Southern California next season there are issues to be ironed out about what that means for the Chargers and their market, and how to perhaps appease Spanos financially and otherwise through his percentage of any relocation fee, etc.
So, obviously, there remains significant work to be done. But the closer we get to the end of the season, and the closer the Rams and Raiders get to being free agents, the more things will crystallize. Neither would prefer to return to their current market if it’s feasible to get to Los Angeles, and both will continue to work diligently to explore a means to make that happen, if not by 2015, then by as soon as possible thereafter.
