The Chargers, Raiders, and Rams officially file for relocation to Los Angeles

[GNG]

The real question is how long until all the teams moving to LA leave again?

Only when the fans stop buying tickets.

 

[TP76]

I'd like to see the Rams move back to LA, exile the Raiders to San Antonio, TX. Chargers stay and get something done in SD.

St Louis to be first in line for an expansion team, something they can call their own instead of getting everyone's hand-me-downs.

 

[CCF151]

If an NFC West team had to get moved to the AFC, I'd pick Arizona. It seems like the Rams, 49ers and Seahawks all hate each others guts, with the Cards never really being mentioned as any of their true rivals. That way you keep those NFC West rivalries every season and maybe the Cards can start a rivalry with whichever team stays in the AFC that goes to Los Angeles.

As a founding member of the NFL I highly doubt the league would ask the Cards to change. The Bidwills would likely fight tooth and nail against it. My best guess is that they approve the Chargers and the Rams and there is no need for any realignment.

 

[Battlelyon]

Which team has the most money?

Rams owner has more than the Raiders and Chargers have combined.

 

[GNG]

Rams owner has more than the Raiders and Chargers have combined.

Money talks.

 

[VikingFan2k2]

Rams owner has more than the Raiders and Chargers have combined.

Thanks to his wife inheriting over half of it.

 

[VikingFan2k2]

So if the problem is solved, by having new stadiums, why wouldn't teams want to come back?

I get why they want to come back, I just said the front-running fans of LA don't deserve a pro football team. No offense.

 

[Battlelyon]

I get why they want to come back, I just said the front-running fans of LA don't deserve a pro football team. No offense.

Well there are a lot of LA fans that started a movement years ago to bring back the Rams.

 

[Battlelyon]

St. Louis Rams' relocation bid contends they have the best plan for L.A. and NFL
Sam Farmer and Nathan FennoContact Reporters

The Inglewood stadium proposal backed by the St. Louis Rams is vastly superior to the rival plan in Carson and could be a financial windfall for the NFL, the franchise argued in its relocation application submitted to the league Monday.

The 29-page document obtained Tuesday by The Times lays out the team's rationale for why it should be able to leave St. Louis and how it believes such a move would ultimately strengthen the NFL.

"The Rams' Inglewood project presents the league and all of the member clubs with the best opportunity for successful long-term operations in Los Angeles," the application said.

San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders also applied to relocate as well, touting their joint project in Carson that's projected to open in 2019 and detailing the reasons why they believe they should be allowed to leave their current markets.


Rams relocation to L.A. materialDocument
Rams relocation to L.A. material
Download Now
League owners will gather for a special meeting in Houston next week in hopes of resolving the L.A. quandary.

The NFL's stadium, finance and L.A. committees meet Wednesday and Thursday of this week at league headquarters in New York to discuss the situation.

Although the developers at the Inglewood site have long said their stadium would be ready for the 2018 season, the Rams' application targets 2019 as the proposed start date. There was no elaboration on the change for the $1.86-billion project that the Rams describe as "shovel ready."

The document provides a rare look into a landmark moment in the NFL's two-decade quest to return to L.A.; this is the first time teams have formally asked to relocate to the country's second-largest market.

The application is divided into three parts: discussing the strengths of the Inglewood plan, explaining why the Rams have a right to move after two decades in St. Louis, and outlining how the league will benefit from the team's relocation.

Pro Bowl. The neighboring performance venue could be home to the NFL draft, NFL Honors and other league-themed events such as NFL Films premieres. Some of the office space in the planned mixed-use development around the stadium could accommodate the NFL Network, NFL Media and NFL Digital, allowing them "dynamic new space just three miles from their current Culver City location."

The Rams argue that they have the strongest L.A. fan base of the three teams seeking to relocate.



In an aggressive move Monday to end the NFL's two-decade absence from Los Angeles, three franchises — the Oakland Raiders, [URL='http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/san-diego-chargers-ORSPT000056-topic.html']San Diego Chargers and St. Louis Rams — submitted relocation applications to the league on the first day they were eligible to do so.

The development was unprecedented since...

In an aggressive move Monday to end the NFL's two-decade absence from Los Angeles, three franchises — the [URL='http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/oakland-raiders-ORSPT000053-topic.html']Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers and St. Louis Rams — submitted relocation applications to the league on the first day they were eligible to do so.

The development was unprecedented since...

(Sam Farmer and Nathan Fenno)
"Polling throughout the relocation process has consistently shown the Rams as a single team have more fan support than the Chargers and Raiders combined," the application said.

The document cites a marketing focus group the NFL held in L.A. in August in which "30 out of 53 respondents preferred the Rams to relocate, followed by 17 votes for the Chargers and six for the Raiders."

The same focus group sessions showed that more than 90% of the attendees preferred the Inglewood site, the Rams said.

The application sounds more like a legal document when it veers into discussion about the Rams' lease at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis and why the team thinks it is free to move.

"Twelve years of fruitless talks culminating in an intense one-year exchange of proposals in an agreed-upon process that cost the parties more than $7 million meets any standard of good-faith community engagement," the application said.

Some of the strongest language is reserved for the $1.1-billion riverfront stadium deal being proposed by St. Louis, in which the Rams would be responsible for all stadium operations and maintenance costs for the stadium's first 30 years. The Rams say that would increase their current rent by a factor of 20.

A spokesman for the St. Louis stadium task force said the Rams' assessment of their experience in the city "is inaccurate and extremely disappointing."

"We have a spectacular stadium proposal that delivers the certainty the NFL has asked for, and we are and will continue to be an excellent home for the St. Louis Rams," said Jim Woodcock.

The St. Louis plan calls for the league and the Rams to kick in at least $710 million toward the project, with $355 million in public contributions. That's short of the $400 million the St. Louis stadium task force promised league owners two months ago, the Rams said.

The Rams' application argues that even "the most cursory analysis of the St. Louis financial proposal makes no economic sense for an NFL team."

A heading in bold emphasizes the point: "No NFL Club Would Be Interested In The … New St. Louis Stadium."[/URL][/URL]

 

[redseat]

Exactly. Why does LA even deserve a team? Especially since all 3 of those teams left.

why does California in general need another team for any sport?

 

[Clayton]

St Louis to be first in line for an expansion team, something they can call their own instead of getting everyone's hand-me-downs.

Expansion? The last thing the NFL needs is more shitty teams without QBs

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Davis didn't want to share a stadium. Not sure what you mean by centrally located, but unless you are able to fill in the bay, that is unlikely. 49ers aren't going to play in Oakland and the East Bay, and land/traffic/Env issues on the Peninsula north of Santa Clara would make putting a stadium an extremely difficult if not impossible endeavor.

Oh...thanks for the local insight....but now he does? Huh.

Logistics...the few times I've been out there...agree.

I really don't care who moves. My angle here is more on the owners holding cities hostage over sports entertainment. ...the teams and the NFL in general are making so much money off the public and corporations...they should be funding their own stadiums if what is existing doesn't fit the bill anymore.

 

[cdumler7]

In other words, typical Goodell.

This has very little if nothing really to do with Goodell. He is at best the spokesperson but this is all the NFL owners and the cities these teams are in or could be going to. Honestly I am just tired of people always blaming Goodell for everything. Obviously he hasn't been perfect but this is like those memes that say the 76ers terrible season is Obama's fault. Really most everything to do with the NFL is a decision by the top people the owners telling Goodell what to do. He gets paid very well to be the crap guy so that the owners can still look good even when they screw everything up.

 

[cdumler7]

If both the Raiders and Chargers switch it would make the most sense location wise for the Rams to move to the AFC West.

Of course why in the hell Missouri has 2 NFL teams while some bigger market states have 0 is beyond me.

Here is the deal. The middle of the United States does not have as many teams. Such as for the Chiefs...you have fans in Nebraska, South Dakota, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma. The Broncos are another where they are the dominating team in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, and even a huge chunk of Nebraska.

Here is a great map showing just who people cheer for by state...

Twitter map shows the most popular NFL teams in each county of the United States

As for the Rams St. Louis is a great sports town. There is a reason they can have an MLB, NFL, NHL team and for the most part draw large crowds to them all. They have close to 3 million people living in the Greater St. Louis area. Throw in KC and St. Louis are 250 miles apart. Compare that to Oakland to San Francisco is 12.3 miles apart. Or Boston to New York being 216 miles. So essentially in the North East corner you have in a 400 mile area 6 teams. Explain to me again how Missouri can't support 2 teams on opposite sides of the state in major cities?

 

[Clayton]

Kroenke seems desperate. "STL is a two sport city" is something that makes the NFL look weak because it implies that a hockey team should stay and an NFL team should leave. Thats bananas. Stan is just a greedy old man.

 

[MHSL82]

Can someone explain to me why the divisions would have to change if any of these teams moved to LA? It's not like they are all geographic in nature and the con of changing divisions is the rivalry aspect (which can be overstated or understated by some people). Thanks in advance for any explanation.

 

[cdumler7]

Can someone explain to me why the divisions would have to change if any of these teams moved to LA? It's not like they are all geographic in nature and the con of changing divisions is the rivalry aspect (which can be overstated or understated by some people). Thanks in advance for any explanation.

Teams only would have to change divisions IF both the Chargers and Raiders move to the same stadium. Part of this would be a scheduling issue. It becomes much more difficult to figure out if they are both in the same conference especially same division. Now if it is the Raiders/Rams or Chargers/Rams moving into the same stadium then everything stays the same.

 

[boltfan72]

Teams only would have to change divisions IF both the Chargers and Raiders move to the same stadium. Part of this would be a scheduling issue. It becomes much more difficult to figure out if they are both in the same conference especially same division. Now if it is the Raiders/Rams or Chargers/Rams moving into the same stadium then everything stays the same.

Not to mention you have to break up that rivalry and avoid them playing two games a year against each other or the murder rate in LA would skyrocket.

 

[boltfan72]

I still form my opinion based on this thinking: the NFL is ALL about money. The LA threat has gotten them a ton of stadiums built. If the LA threat is gone, it'll be a lot tougher to build new stadiums. That's why I think a maximum of one team goes to LA, just to keep that 2nd team threat alive.

 

[Pattersonca65]

Oh...thanks for the local insight....but now he does? Huh.

Logistics...the few times I've been out there...agree.

I really don't care who moves. My angle here is more on the owners holding cities hostage over sports entertainment. ...the teams and the NFL in general are making so much money off the public and corporations...they should be funding their own stadiums if what is existing doesn't fit the bill anymore.

Davis flat out rejected sharing a stadium in the Bay Area with the 49ers. Maybe he is willing to share one down south just to get out of Oakland.