With the NFL "pushing forward with plans to vote" on a L.A. relocation soon, there will be "preliminary meetings of key owners" in N.Y. this week, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSPORTS.com. Sources said that the NFL Committee on L.A. Opportunities, which is "spearheading this issue, along with the league's stadium committee and finance committee, are set to meet Wednesday and Thursday." The Raiders-Chargers project in Carson remains "much, much closer" to getting a go-ahead than Rams Owner Stan Kroenke's Inglewood project, "with probably around 18-20 votes." Some owners "would prefer just the Chargers go first, with perhaps another franchise later joining," and many "would support getting the Rams and Chargers together (though it seems highly remote that could occur between now and mid-January)" (CBSSPORTS.com, 1/1). NFL Network's Ian Rapoport cited sources as saying that the Rams "will not accept the St. Louis stadium plan," which is something the league "will have to deal with." Sources added that the relocation fee per team is $550M, and whichever team is left out of going to L.A., the league is "expected to help them secure a new home" ("NFL GameDay Morning," NFL Network, 1/3).
FINAL PUSH: Chiefs Chair & CEO Clark Hunt said, "All three of those franchises have tremendous fan bases in their home markets. In an ideal world, I'd like to see them all stay where they are. It probably won't work out that way. There will probably be at least one team moving to L.A. I can't speculate who that might be" (AP, 1/3). On Long Island, Bob Glauber cited a high-ranking NFL source, referring to a potential outcome, as saying, “I wish I could tell you how this was going to go down, but I honestly can’t. There are just a lot of moving parts, and I don’t think anyone has any real sense of what might or might not happen" (NEWSDAY, 1/3). In California, Scott Reid notes Disney Chair & CEO Bob Iger "has been busy lobbying NFL owners in recent days and weeks both in person and over the phone on behalf of the Chargers and Raiders plans." Iger’s "intensified efforts come as the NFL’s relocation process enters a critical and potentially decisive 10-day period" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 1/4).
SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS: In St. Louis, Benjamin Hochman writes, "If the league wants to make the safest bet, I just don’t see how the voting owners can look at the three cities and say: Let’s move the one team of the three that could possibly remain viable in their current city, because of a new stadium plan." St. Louis "does not get enough credit." The city "has an energized plan" and "is ready to make its own gamble, and do so with its own money" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 1/4). Also in St. Louis, Bill McClellan wondered if Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson's "confidential approach" to Iger tainted what "should have been a neutral process?" If Kroenke’s supporters "can convince some of the fence-sitters" that a lawsuit is a "strong possibility, would not be in the owners’ best interests and could tie up the relocation efforts indefinitely, Kroenke could still pull this off." McClellan: "I predict that Kroenke prevails when the owners meet in January. Bye-bye Rams" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 1/3). The POST-DISPATCH's Hochman writes, "This is the point St. Louis has gotten to: hoping a billionaire doesn’t move this deplorable product to Los Angeles to make more billions." It "stinks that the soul of St. Louis means so much to Rams fans and so little to Rams ownership." It is "amazing that so many fans have stayed on board after this disgusting decade" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 1/4).
WORTH THE WAIT? PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio noted San Diego's proposal is "roughly the same as the one that the city made" during '15 negotiations. If a June vote that relies on the California Environmental Quality Act "fails or if a court decides the project doesn’t pass environmental muster, the Chargers could be shut out of L.A., assuming the Rams secure approval to move" to Inglewood. Kroenke was believed to be "pushing for a one-year delay in a final vote" on L.A. He thinks that the extra year "will show that San Diego can get something done on a new stadium -- and that St. Louis can’t" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 1/2).
REASONABLE DOUBT: A S.F. CHRONICLE editorial stated Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf last week "failed to give" the Raiders and the NFL what they wanted, while St. Louis and San Diego "each offered generous public subsidies to keep the Rams and Chargers in town." The NFL and its owners are "unfamiliar with the concept of reasonableness." Their "audacity is boundless." Oakland’s response to the NFL's request for a plan was "decidedly amorphous," as it "mostly highlighted the wealth and growth in the Bay Area." The editorial: "This is the right approach" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 1/3).
