Many of the NFL's most influential owners, including some on the league's Los Angeles Relocation committee, continue to have reservations about the Raiders' inclusion in the joint project with the Chargers in Carson, Calif. Their concerns over the strength of the Raiders' ownership group could result in no teams getting approval to move to LA in 2016, ownership sources said. Furthermore, multiple ownership sources said that the odds of a move happening to LA next year would be significantly higher if the Chargers were either moving by themselves, or if they were paired with the Rams.
Other owners have doubts about whether or not Raiders owner Mark Davis has the acumen to build a strong franchise in a two-team LA market, sources said. And, given that organization's repeated moves under former owner Al Davis and the controversy that ensued -- including suing the league -- there remains a backlash to the Raiders going back to LA. Mark Davis is a polarizing figure, and as popular as Chargers owner Dean Spanos is among his cohorts, Davis is not held in as much esteem. Some owners believe it makes much more sense for the return to LA to begin with one team rather than two.
Finding a way to get Spanos and Rams owner Stan Kroenke together is viewed as the best-case scenario for a two-team LA market, and although consideration hurdles exist, it may not be impossible if a vote is pushed back to 2017. Those two ownership groups are not close, and there would be trust issues. The deal that Kroenke is currently willing to offer for a second team to join his Inglewood project is viewed as far less than attractive by the Chargers and Raiders at this point, sources said. But things can change over time.
The inclusion of Disney CEO Bob Iger as the chairman of the Carson stadium project has helped the overall strength of that bid. Iger told me that the bond between the Chargers and Raiders is tight and there is no consideration that will be given to any arrangements with the Rams or other clubs. He was also adamant that two teams should enter LA simultaneously, though I continue to hear that is something on which several owners are not sold.
"I've spent a lot of time living in New York, and I'm a two-team NFL market guy," Iger said. "And I've seen how those two teams have operated quite successfully in one large, sprawling populous market. I have no qualms whatsoever about Los Angeles' ability to sustain two NFL teams."
With a potential vote in mid-January nearing, the Carson group still lacks the 24 votes necessary for any move. While the Carson project is generally favored over Inglewood within the membership of the Relocation Committee, its support is not universal, and sources said that support would likely be much higher should there be a solution that included the Rams and Chargers going to LA.
Oakland is also looked at, despite its substantial stadium woes, as a better locale for NFL football given the overall strength of the Bay Area, and Davis, desperate to get out of his current stadium and lacking options, is seen as more malleable by NFL brass and owners to other options, which could potentially include a move to St. Louis should the Chargers and Rams end up going to Los Angeles together.
As it stands, no one knows exactly what the end game will be in Los Angeles, other than the fact that at some point in the next few years at least one team will be playing there. For now, the jockeying continues.
