NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in a "sternly worded letter" to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and his stadium task force "warned that the league has no current plans to provide" $300M toward construction of a riverfront stadium for the Rams in St. Louis, according to a front-page piece by David Hunn of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. Goodell wrote that the NFL "provides a maximum" of $200M "to help teams build new stadiums." He wrote the premise that the league had committed an extra $100M to the stadium proposal “is fundamentally inconsistent with the NFL’s program of stadium financing." Hunn notes the St. Louis Board of Aldermen is set to meet at 3:00pm CT on Friday "to vote on the latest version of the city’s financing package -- a deal that changed at the last minute to give up city tax revenue in exchange" for the additional $100M from the NFL. It is "unclear whether Goodell’s letter will affect that vote." St. Louis stadium task force co-head Dave Peacock said that local planners "have been clear from the beginning that the project is counting on private investment" -- including $250M from Rams Owner Stan Kroenke -- "that has never been certain." Peacock said that Thursday’s letter "is just the NFL being careful." The $100M extra from the NFL -- a deal Peacock "cut in direct conversations with key NFL owners -- was supposed to cushion the blow." But Goodell’s letter "took Peacock to task for including that money in the city’s financing package" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/18).
SO CLOSE, YET SO FAR AWAY: In L.A., Sam Farmer writes an L.A. relocation solution "has never been closer -- yet the standoff among the clubs grows more contentious by the day, with other owners lining up and picking sides." As it stands, there is "no NFL consensus on a plan, and the Chargers and San Diego are essentially divorced, with the club walking away from the negotiating table in June." No matter "how you slice it -- Raiders and Chargers, or Rams and Chargers -- the Chargers will always be regarded as the other team in L.A., unless they can build a fan base from scratch" the way the Clippers or Cardinals have, which "can take decades." Both the Rams and Raiders "have robust followings" in L.A. (L.A. TIMES, 12/18). PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio reported more and more owners, both on and off the record, "are saying that the L.A. situation will end" at an upcoming special meeting Jan. 12-13. A source said, “It has to." Sources "have expressed a strong belief that, regardless of how the L.A. situation specifically plays out, it will end with the Chargers moving to L.A." Still, there are "plenty of moving parts, and every potential option should be regarded as being on the table as the Rams, Chargers, and Raiders play a high-stakes game of poker" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 12/17).
