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

[ATL_Predator+ 1,196]

Looks to me like the Chargers and Rams are going to LA...

 

While the Raiders willingly get fucked over but will receive money to help build a new stadium.

[Cherry 1,302]

Brb changing name to Jonathan Maverick and becoming an NFL QB

[BJORN 679]

Looks to me like the Chargers and Rams are going to LA...

 

While the Raiders willingly get fucked over but will receive money to help build a new stadium.

We'll see what happens. Spanos has insisted multiple times that he has no plans of teaming up with Kroenke and is dead set on the Carson plan. There is seemingly some bad blood between the two of the owners, due to Kroenke blowing off Spanos originally when he bought the Inglewood site.

[butta54 371]

This is crazy. First and foremost I feel bad for whichever fanbase loses their team. I could not imagine going through something like that especially when you know no amount of petitions, marches, or pleas will change the big money decision.

 

With that being said, the Rams' plan in Inglewood seems like a lock. The owner already bought the land for the site and the designs have come out and look pretty top notch. Not to mention the owners have done their best to burn every bridge with the city of St. Louis to almost ensure there won't be any room for negotiations.

 

So now the likely next partner will be Chargers seeing as they've had a bad relationship with the city as well that has probably reached it's boiling point. This leaves the Raiders to figure it out.

 

I don't like the two teams under one roof. The Jets & Giants always seems weird to me knowing they play at the same place but have no real ties or rivalry. Maybe not same division, but same conference would be more intriguing I guess? Either way I like each team having their own space. Especially with LA already doing the two team thing in the NBA. Always seems unnecessary to have two teams in the same city IMO. Lastly the thought of San Diego remaining a site for a new team...most likely the Raiders....is just weird. As a fan I wouldn't know what to do. Do you root for the players and ownership you've known or the one currently in your city?

[BJORN 679]

Well butta, to answer your question: Speaking for myself and seemingly the general consensus on the Chargers board....if the Chargers leave for LA, the overwhelming majority will not continue to support them. The ownership would be absolutely hated. I would still like to see some of the players do well...i/e Rivers, Gates, Allen, etc but I will never root for a LA team.

 

The Raiders coming to SD afterwards is a fascinating proposition and would cause a massive stir. They have always been the rival team. So the rival team would come into SD while our team left to go to our rival city, LA. I think the bad blood caused from the relocation could be enough for the Raiders to be embraced in SD. They already have a sizable fan base in SoCal. I don't think the NFL would let this move happen though.

Edited January 12, 2016 by BJORN

[butta54 371]

Looks like the Rams are the ones gonna be left out

 

Chargers/Raiders to share a spot in L.A.

 

Gotta assume the recommended project is the one that will move forward. And this also means One of the teams will have to switch divisions. I been wanting a massive division realignment for awhile...doubt that will be the case...but wonder if it will be a simple flip with another AFC team and which team moves? Rock Paper Scissors?

 

 

 

---------------

 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000621555/article/leagues-committee-on-los-angeles-recommends-carson-project

 

 

 

In light of the article...I don't even know what is happening. And why is Disney CEO Bob Iger involved???

Edited January 12, 2016 by butta54

[BJORN 679]

Spanos & Davis brought Iger on to spearhead the Carson plan. The LA committee was heavily biased towards the Carson plan. But it really holds no weight towards a final decision. The proposal that got the most votes was the Rams + another team (Chargers) if they can reach a deal.

[Cherry 1,302]

 

It begins, my friends.

[FartWaffles 1,857]

I just feel terrible for the Rams fans in St. Louis. I've been where they're at right now, and it ain't pretty...

[ATL_Predator+ 1,196]

That Rams owner is the definition of a pretentious douchebag.

 

I hope this whole thing blows back in his face for the sake of the good Ram fans out there.

[Cherry 1,302]

To be fair of all places to take the team Los Angeles is a very appropriate choice. Even if Kroenke gives off a douchebag rich guy vibe he's bringing home a team to LA that left 20 years ago. St. Louis also had a dying market. The Rams could be a playoff team and that market would still be dragging behind. It would take a SB appearance to spark that place.

[BucD+ 648]

https://twitter.com/BarstoolBigCat/status/687274575927865348

[BJORN 679]

Pretty much sums up the situation completely for those interested.

Column: Hard to feel sorry for Spanos and the Chargers

 

It's hard to feel sorry for Dean Spanos, even if he looked like someone had just kicked his dog the other day in Houston.

His fellow NFL owners had sold him out, rejecting what he surely thought was a slam dunk project that would pair his Chargers with the Oakland Raiders in Los Angeles. Even a parting gift of $100 million to spend on the stadium of his choice wasn't enough to ease the pain.

What had to hurt even more was that Spanos had always been a company man. For the most part he went along with what others thought best for the league, sure that he would be rewarded in the end.

But loyalty is not always a two-way street, something San Diego fans know better than most. Several generations of them grew up rooting for the hometown team, only to have Spanos scheme to move it north after 55 years in San Diego without as much as a proper goodbye.

So it was perhaps poetic justice to fans that the person causing so much pain to so many is feeling some himself.

Spanos went to the owners meeting in Houston expecting to slap the backs of other owners and get formal permission to team with the Raiders in Carson. He flew home a loser, with Stan Kroenke's plan for a stadium in Inglewood for his Rams winning in a 30-2 landslide vote.

Now he's left with a pair of options he couldn't have envisioned when crafting the master plan to flee San Diego for a spot between freeways in Los Angeles.

Does he move the team to Inglewood to share Kroenke's complex and risk being overshadowed by the Rams, a team that already has a fan base in Southern California?

Or does he go back, tail between legs, and negotiate a new stadium in San Diego with city leaders who now hold most of the cards?

Forgive San Diego fans if they're chuckling a bit. This couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Spanos wanted the taxpayers of San Diego to build him a new stadium, and was dismissive of the fans who begged him to stay. When he couldn't extort more money from the local populace without a public vote, he voted to abandon the very fan base that made his team so valuable.

They supported the team long before family patriarch Alex Spanos bought a majority stake in the team for $48 million in 1984. They've bought season tickets every year and filled Qualcomm Stadium to cheer a team that has never won a Super Bowl and always seems to underachieve.

They are the main reason the Chargers are now valued by Forbes at $1.5 billion, with operating profit of some $65 million in 2014 alone.

Yes, the Chargers are a private business allowed to chase money wherever they can find it. But lost in the frantic rush to move is the reality that NFL teams are part of the fabric of a city and should be treated like a public trust.

Spanos didn't like the last deal offered by city officials, which called for a $1.1 billion stadium with $350 million paid by taxpayers. The Chargers, who would have been on the hook for $362.5 million, rejected the plan outright, with no real negotiation.

Easy to see why. For years, the team had a deal where, incredibly, the city of San Diego paid the team for any seats it didn't sell. Compared to that sweetheart deal, $350 million in public money for a new stadium seems like peanuts.

Now the NFL is offering another $100 million to the team if the Chargers stay, which might be enough to make Spanos reconsider. But San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer doesn't seem terribly inclined to offer much more than is on the table now, and wants a public vote on any tax increase for the team.

The Chargers can still move to LA, but would have to share a stadium developed by a rival owner with the Rams. And make no mistake about it, they would be LA's second team, much like another San Diego transplant, the Clippers, remain subservient to the Lakers at Staples Center.

Making matters worse is the Chargers will have to pay - something NFL owners don't like to do - for the right to be there. The relocation fee alone is a reported $550 million, with another $900 million or so for half of the Inglewood stadium unless the Chargers opt to merely be tenants at the new facility.

Still, as much as it must have stung Spanos to have his best-laid plans rejected by fellow owners, the argument can be made that either way he's ahead.

Take the Rams offer and the franchise is suddenly worth more, even if it costs to play. Stay in San Diego and there's $100 million less Spanos has to spend, plus whatever he can con the city out of in future negotiations.

Anybody feeling sorry for Spanos now?

Per Yahoo

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/column-hard-feel-sorry-spanos-chargers-211638270--nfl.html

 

 

[DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F 2,241]

Pretty underwhelmed by the stadium for the Rams. With the gorgeous new stadiums being made in Atlanta and Minnesota (can't believe I'm saying that) I expected more from LA...

Edited January 19, 2016 by DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F

[RazorStar 4,025]

Never expect anything other than crippling disappointment from Los Angeles.

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

Raiders owner Mark Davis is in Las Vegas on Friday morning meeting with Sands casino chairman Sheldon Adelson about his support of an NFL stadium in "Sin City."

The Raiders-to-Las Vegas story has escalated rapidly over the past 24 hours, and Bleacher Report's Jason Cole, who's following relocation situations closely, reports the Raiders' potential move to Vegas is "very real." It won't happen this year, but Davis is intent on pursuing viable solutions for his franchise after it drew the shortest stick at the Owners' Meetings earlier this month. The O.co Coliseum is simply no longer functional. Adelson reportedly wants to build a $1 billion dome in Vegas, with or without a team.

Source: Ian Rapoport on Twitter

[RazorStar 4,025]

Las Vegas is the perfect place for the Raiders.

[blotsfan 2,112]

No, Oakland is.

[Cherry 1,302]

The trash can is the perfect place for the Raiders.

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

In a memo sent to all 32 teams, the NFL said, "There is no prohibition under league rules on a team moving to any particular city."

The memo was in response to Raiders owner Mark Davis' reported desire to move his team to Las Vegas, a move the league would likely resist considering their stance on gambling. Davis met with Sands casino CEO Sheldon Adelson Friday regarding a $1 billion dome stadium Adelson plans to build in Vegas. After striking out in Los Angeles, Davis appears open to any and all options.

Source: Inside SoCal

[ATL_Predator+ 1,196]

I think the Sin City Raiders is the only option other than Oakland that sounds good to me.

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

Raiders owner Mark Davis said the team is working on a one-year lease with the Oakland Coliseum.

Davis is actively pursuing options which would move the team in the future, but he said the "No. 1 plan" is to secure a deal in Oakland for 2016. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf has said the sides need to secure a new lease before opening discussions on a "permanent, beautiful" stadium. The future is murky, but the Raiders will play at least one more season in Oakland.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

[butta54 371]

Raiders more likely to end up in Oakland than San Antonio or Las Vegas IMO

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

The Raiders have signed a one-year lease to remain in Oakland's O.Co Coliseum for the 2016 season.

The band aid deal gives the Raiders an official 2016 home as they shop around for a long-term solution. Las Vegas is the latest relocation rumor du jour, but Los Angeles could end up Oakland's most likely home for 2017. If the Chargers work out a deal in San Diego, the Raiders will be Hollywood bound.

Source: NFL.com

[Vin+ 3,121]

http://hosted.stats.com/fb/story.asp?i=20160323130119361530708&ref=hea&tm=&src=

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) Roger Goodell didn't dismiss Las Vegas as a potential home for an NFL franchise when asked about Raiders owner Mark Davis' interest in moving his team there.

Traditionally, the NFL has strongly opposed the idea of America's gambling capital hosting a franchise. After being passed over for relocation to Los Angeles in January, Davis has shown interest in moving to Las Vegas or other cities if he's unable to get a new stadium built in Oakland.

"Mark Davis is appropriately looking at all his alternatives," the NFL commissioner said Wednesday.

Specifically on Las Vegas and legalized gambling there, Goodell replied: "Those are things we'd have to deal with. We would have to understand the impact on us. Each owner would have a vote; it would be a factor many owners would have to balance, the league would have to balance."

Because of the NFL's stance against gambling, the prospect of doing any sort of business in Las Vegas had been taboo in the league for decades. While Goodell denied there has been a philosophical shift on the subject, he didn't completely reject the idea of the Raiders winding up in Nevada.

"I think their ultimate decision is a long ways off," Goodell said. "There are several cities that have a tremendous interest in the Raiders. I'm hopeful also that Oakland will be one of those and that we can avoid any relocation to start with. ...

But until we've got a hard proposal that really put that in front of us, we'd have to understand what the ramifications of that are."

The Raiders do have an option to join the Rams in Los Angeles, but only if the Chargers first decline it and remain in San Diego. Davis and his late father, Hall of Fame owner Al Davis, have failed for years to get public financial support to build a new stadium in Oakland. The Raiders currently share a stadium with baseball's Athletics.