There are some in the NFL who believe "what’s in the league’s best interest" is for Rams Owner Stan Kroenke and Chargers Chair Dean Spanos to "join forces" in bringing their teams to L.A., according to Scott Reid of the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. Kroenke allies "pushed the idea of the Chargers joining the Rams in Inglewood, a prospect Spanos brushed off." Spanos, referencing his plan to share a stadium with the Raiders, said, "I’m only focused on Carson." Kroenke allies at another round of league meetings last week in N.Y. "again suggested the two teams join forces, this time floating the possibility of the Rams sharing the Carson stadium with the Chargers." Spanos is committed to Raiders Owner Mark Davis "as a full partner in the Carson venture." Spanos and Davis have "grown close in the past year," and Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson, "one of Spanos’ closest friends among the league’s owners, has emerged as a mentor to Davis through the relocation process." But there are "larger issues that make a Kroenke-Spanos pact unlikely." Their visions for the NFL’s return to L.A. "aren’t the only differences the two men have had." Even "more than his issues with traffic and parking, Spanos’ primary concern with Inglewood is that by moving into the Hollywood Park stadium the Chargers would be tenant in another man’s house." He is "an equal partner with Davis in the Carson project, which Spanos maintains has the accessibility and parking that he said are critical to the NFL’s successful return" to L.A. (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 11/22). Meanwhile, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport cited sources as saying that it "could actually be 2017 when the NFL does return to Los Angeles," and not next year as has been expected. Rapoport: "What is clear is there needs to be some sort of breakthrough to make next year in Los Angeles happen” (“NFL GameDay Morning,” NFL Network, 11/22).
GOODWILL HUNTING: In San Diego, David Garrick reports San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer yesterday spent half an hour "describing local progress on building a new stadium" to Chiefs Chair & CEO Clark Hunt "during a private meeting" at San Diego Int'l Airport. Faulconer: "It was an opportunity to review all we’ve done in San Diego and answer questions." Hunt is the "fifth member of a six-owner NFL special committee" focused on L.A. franchise relocations "that Faulconer has met with since late September." Faulconer said that he is "still working to schedule a meeting with the sixth owner," the Texans' Bob McNair (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 11/23).
BLOCKING THE GATEWAY: St. Louis Comptroller Darlene Green announced that she will "oppose the stadium financing plan now before the city’s Board of Aldermen, saying that the aldermanic bill to fund construction of a riverfront football stadium 'is not fiscally responsible'" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 11/22).
