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NFL Owners Expect L.A. Vote By January As Clock Ticks For Cities To Submit Proposals

Steelers President Art Rooney II yesterday "expressed confidence that the tortured path back to L.A. will reach a conclusion in January with a vote of his peers," according to Farmer & Fenno of the L.A. TIMES. Speaking after the NFL owners meetings in N.Y., Rooney said, "I think there will be a vote." Rooney believes the three teams backing two competing stadium plans in L.A. "will all file for relocation at the end of the season, setting up a vote in January." But NFL Exec VP/Business Ventures Eric Grubman "doesn't think the owners are tied to a vote that early in the year." He said, "There's nothing that locks us into January. There are any number of scenarios that could emerge." Farmer & Fenno report if a vote was taken in January or later, that would "conflict with the much-discussed groundbreaking schedule of the Inglewood project" proposed by Rams Owner Stan Kroenke. It is "highly unlikely Kroenke would break ground without getting the green light from the NFL" (L.A. TIMES, 10/8). The AP's Barry Wilner noted there has been speculation that the timetable "could be moved up to December, when the next owners meeting occurs in Dallas." But Rooney said that he "doesn't envision that." He said, "I don't think we'll move up the deadline. We have cities that still are putting together their proposals [to keep their teams]." Grubman admitted that for a team or two to call L.A. home next season, the "latest it could get approval would probably be March or April" (AP, 10/7).

SOME UNCERTAINTY REMAINS: CBSSPORTS.com's Jason La Canfora noted while some owners privately said that there "is a chance this matter could be pushed back" until '17, they also noted the "momentum and progress being made." Some owners believe the Chargers/Raiders project in Carson "may only be 4-6 votes short of getting the support it requires." Sources said that the league will "continue to explore options possibly pairing" the Chargers and Rams in Inglewood, though that "could prove quite difficult." The matter is "likely to be discussed in greater detail in a December meeting." Grubman said that at this point there "is no schedule for a special meeting, which would eventually be called to actually vote" on the L.A. move (CBSSPORTS.com, 10/7). ESPN’s Jim Trotter said the "ideal situation for the league" would be for the Rams and Chargers to "go in jointly on a stadium in Inglewood." However, for that to happen, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell "has got to exert his influence, and there are questions about whether or not he actually has enough influence to make that happen" ("NFL Insiders," ESPN, 10/7). Trotter noted one team owner told him “everything is fluid.” Owners “can’t even decide right now whether L.A. is a one-team market or a two-team market” and whether it is "best to have” one or two stadiums ("NFL Insiders," ESPN, 10/7). One NFL owner said that he was “'frustrated' by the lack of progress." In San Diego, Kevin Acee noted others also "clearly felt the process should be moving along more quickly" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/8).

CITY DWELLERS
: Grubman said that with the Chargers having broken off talks with San Diego about city and county plans for a new $1.1B stadium in Mission Valley, the city "emailed a term sheet on the project to the NFL last week." In California, Scott Reid notes the term sheet "calls for a June 2016 special election on the stadium issue." Grubman said that the league "will respond to the term sheet after consulting with the Chargers in the coming weeks" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 10/8). The UNION-TRIBUNE's Acee notes the NFL is "willing to negotiate with San Diego in lieu of the Chargers, though the team would have to approve the terms of a deal." It is a "faint glimmer of a ray of hope, but it is not the total darkness of an impending move." Acee: "It still doesn’t look good for San Diego" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/8). Meanwhile, Texans Owner Bob McNair, a member of the relocation committee, said that Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s St. Louis stadium task force "has not yet turned in the financial details of its riverfront stadium proposal" to the committee, as expected. He added that the committee anticipated getting the term sheet "a few weeks ago." He said, "What we have to see is the term sheet. ... If they’re going to do something, they need to act” (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 10/8).

UNINVITED GUEST? The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat's Lowell Cohn wondered if the NFL even "wants the Raiders in L.A." Cohn: "I’ll go a step further: I don’t even think the league wants Mark Davis to own the team. They would be much more bullish on the Raiders if he sold (the team).” The San Jose Mercury News' Tim Kawakami: “The one thing you keep hearing is if the NFL goes back to L.A., they don't want to fail. The Raiders have failed with Mark Davis’ dad in L.A." Kawakami added of the NFL, "They don't want to have a repeat of anything like that. That's why they are working so hard to make this the grand bargain” (“Sports Talk Live,” CSN Bay Area, 10/7).

LEAGUE-WIDE ISSUE: USA TODAY's Jarrett Bell notes there were a "lot of mixed signals expressed" yesterday at the league meetings, as the L.A. relocation efforts are "complicated by the cities that could be left behind." Falcons Owner Arthur Blank said, "We need to be ... sensitive and thoughtful to the fans that have supported us in these markets that they’re in today. Having said that, fans are voters and they elect officials. At the end of the day, officials decide whether to have a competitive situation, stadium-wise, in their markets, or they don’t. If they choose not to, I’m not saying the fans have spoken, but the voters have spoken." Bell writes the league basically "doesn’t want to come off as abandoning a market, which might seem even worse than holding taxpayers hostage to pay for a facility where private owners will reap the benefits" (USA TODAY, 10/8). In L.A., Vincent Bonsignore writes, "Deciding between the two sites and what team or teams to allow to move to L.A. is one of the great challenges in league history." It is a "complex situation, filled with rules and committees and guidelines and vision and financial means and personalities and alliances and the objective to do what’s best for the league while also not cutting off a fellow owner -- or two -- at the legs." And while the calendar reads early October, owners "realize time is rapidly running out" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 10/8).

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