NFL owners convene today in Irving, Texas, where the "main focus will be on the stadium situations" in San Diego, Oakland, L.A. and Las Vegas involving the Chargers and Raiders (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/11). No decisions in the "two-team, four-city puzzle are expected until next month." But today's meeting "could lay the groundwork for a solution, which could include further incentivizing the Chargers to continue working on an answer in San Diego." The league is "grappling with sharply declining TV viewership and is mindful of the resentment involved when a team abandons a market" (L.A. TIMES, 12/14). Raiders President Marc Badain said that team execs "do not plan to make an extensive presentation about Las Vegas" at today's meeting "because they've already done so" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 12/14).
There is a "strong belief within the league that the Chargers plan to exercise their option to join the Rams" in L.A. beginning next season (WASHINGTON POST, 12/14). Two items related to the Chargers will be addressed today. First, the owners "will ratify the Chargers' and Rams' Inglewood Stadium agreement they negotiated last January." Also, owners "will give the Chargers an option to finance one half" of the $650M relocation fee required to move to L.A. (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 12/14).
