NFL Exec VP/Business Ventures Eric Grubman during yesterday's owners meeting in S.F. said that the league "could hear relocation requests" as early as late in the '15 regular season "with a vote of the NFL's 32 owners on the requests coming a few weeks later," according to Scott Reid of the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. But NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell "cautioned that while 'significant progress' has been made with stadium projects in Inglewood and Carson," one or more teams relocating to L.A. "was not a done deal." Grubman also emphasized that local efforts to build new stadiums in St. Louis, San Diego and Oakland are "running out of time, even characterizing Oakland's bid to keep the Raiders as going backward." Neither Rams Owner Stan Kroenke's plans to build at Hollywood Park nor the Chargers-Raiders proposal in Carson "was discussed by the teams" this week. Rams, Chargers and Raiders officials will "make presentations on the progress" of their respective projects to the NFL's L.A. committee "during a June meeting." Goodell said, "I think there is significant progress but I don't think it's inevitable. I think there is certainly momentum, there's certainly opportunities. I can't remember the last time we had two facilities that are actually entitled and are being developed. That's a very positive development" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 5/21). Goodell acknowledged that the league is "much further along in the process than at any other point in his tenure." He said that he and his staff "have not yet been able to review the financing plan from a task force in San Diego that was released earlier this week and said the NFL has not received any information about stadium financing plans from Oakland." Goodell and his staff "met with officials from St. Louis recently and said that city has made 'tremendous progress'" (USATODAY.com, 5/20).
A QUESTION OF WHEN, NOT IF: SI.com's Austin Murphy wrote the NFL's return to L.A. has "taken on an air of inevitability" (SI.com, 5/20). Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio: "It feels like just a matter of time before the NFL is back in L.A." ("PFT," NBCSN, 5/20). In S.F., Eric Branch noted Colts Owner Jim Irsay left this week's meetings "convinced at least one team" will play in L.A. by '17. Irsay: "It’s not a matter of 'if' now, but 'when.'" Meanwhile, 49ers CEO Jed York is "certainly not betting against Los Angeles after the owners were briefed on the latest developments regarding three in-flux teams: the Raiders, Chargers and Rams." York: "I don’t think they’re in the same position as Los Angeles. If I was going to handicap it, I think L.A. is much further along than any of the home markets at this point" (SFGATE.com, 5/20).
SUPER, THANKS FOR ASKING: In L.A., Vincent Bonsignore reports the chance of L.A. soon hosting a Super Bowl is "a legitimate possibility," perhaps as early as the '20 season. Grubman "stressed not to read too much into the development as it relates to where St. Louis, Oakland or San Diego are with stadium plans to keep their teams in place or move, or the race between Inglewood and Carson to be approved as the preferred site." Grubman: "That says more about the attractiveness of the L.A. market than it does about the aspect of progress. It just so happens that the Super Bowl advisory committee and the membership are likely to award two Super Bowls next year, and the second of the two Super Bowls lines up with the time when a stadium would have been in operation in Los Angeles for a full year" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 5/21). NFL Network's Michael Silver said, "You best believe that when they build a stadium in Los Angeles, it's going to be heavily in that Super Bowl rotation, as it should be. It would be a palace that they would want to show off.” NFL Network’s Steve Wyche: “The NFL is calculated. They’re not going to sit here in a league meeting and all of a sudden say, ‘L.A. is going to have the potential to host a Super Bowl in 2020,’ and that just be a trial balloon. There's a lot more behind that” (“NFL Total Access,” NFL Network, 5/20).
