NFL to return to LA within 12-24 months

[Mighty NorCal]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...s-its-12-24-months-away-from-a-return-to-l-a/

The main canidates being the Rams, Chargers, and Raiders. (No Jaguars? Hm.)

I would guess the Rams are pretty much a lock. Have the roster to be competitive, and they play in a piece of shit stadium.


I hope the other team ends up being the Chargers. The Raiders would be a ghastly failure. The worst franchise in the NFL in front of a front-running fan base, in a 100,000 seat stadium? No sir. Plus, it would be less of a blow for SD, since LA isnt too far. The Chargers also have more star players, sharp, modern uniforms, and honestly have long deserved to be treated better by the city of San Diego. They play in a decrepit relic of a stadium, despite being highly competitive and drafting well consistently over the last decade.

 

[Akhilleus]

This is awesome. I've been waiting for LA to get a team back for so long. All this talk about how they want a team in London, specifically Roger Goodell, makes me sick. A team would NEVER work in London. There would be no fan base there regardless of what their research says. It's good for one game there or something, but to have a team there? It wouldn't work. I wouldn't mind Canada getting a team somewhere in the league as far as other countries go, but I just don't think London would be interested enough. At least compared to a city like LA.

I'd honestly like to see the Jags go there though. Or the Bills. I like the Chargers in San Diego, and I think Raiders work in Oakland too.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I wonder if the NFL is just putting this story out there again to change the narrative. Give the talking heads more to discuss than injuries, poor officiating, domestic violence, an incompetent commissioner, PEDs, other suspensions, gambling, and head injuries.

The LA move has been a threat to panicked franchises for years but somehow no one can get all the shit together to make LA a viable option. Seems kind of ridiculous to me at this point. Probably a greedy owner looking to get more public funding for a stadium putting out the story to get their fan base to start making threatening phone calls to their local politicians.

I don't know. In the end we will see. But the LA project consistently gets stalled. This article was short, to the point, and lacked much substance. Florio could work at WZ.

And as badly as the NFL wants an LA team, makes me wonder why they just don't expand. Seems easier than relying on an existing team to make the move themselves.

I've rambled enough. Hopefully I made my point, whatever that was.

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

restraining myself from ripping the OP a new one, it won't be the Rams. Kroenke our owner was part of the group that originally moved the Rams to St. Louis in the first place. He'd have to pay for his own stadium in LA and a high relocation tag. That's 2 or 3 billion before he plays a down. Why do you think the Chagers haven't moved to LA already? Right now Kroenke only pays 250k a year to rent the dome, what he makes is pure profit he gets 100% of the ticket revenue. He'll get a new stadium here with a combination of tax money his own money and the G4 loan which he has to match and essentially acts as a grant. 250 250 + 300 fetches you a nice stadium in St. Louis, and land is a plenty. In short the Rams aren't leaving, I've been following this for a long long time. Anschultz owns LA, if a team does make it to LA it'll be his. Either the Chargers or Raiders owners are more likely to sell. Kroenke doesn't buy teams to sell them. He also isn't going to share any stadium with another team. What the NFL needs is realignment, not relocations.

 

[Trill Co$by]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...s-its-12-24-months-away-from-a-return-to-l-a/

The main canidates being the Rams, Chargers, and Raiders. (No Jaguars? Hm.)

I would guess the Rams are pretty much a lock. Have the roster to be competitive, and they play in a piece of shit stadium.


I hope the other team ends up being the Chargers. The Raiders would be a ghastly failure. The worst franchise in the NFL in front of a front-running fan base, in a 100,000 seat stadium? No sir. Plus, it would be less of a blow for SD, since LA isnt too far. The Chargers also have more star players, sharp, modern uniforms, and honestly have long deserved to be treated better by the city of San Diego. They play in a decrepit relic of a stadium, despite being highly competitive and drafting well consistently over the last decade.

Yeah because the team which played as the Los Angeles Raiders for over 10 years going back to being said Los Angeles Raiders is such a hard thing to believe. Because the fact that a large portion of Raiders fan base lives in Los Angeles is unfathomable. Because returning to the city where you won your last Super Bowl isn't possible. Face it, if anybody is in the run for the city to call their own it's the Raiders. The fans in LA aren't terrible fans, and can really add something to the team that the current Oakland crowd just doesn't do... excitement for the game.

I look at this like the Tennessee Titans becoming the Tennessee Titans. They started as the Oilers in Houston before moving to Tennessee. Houston didn't care for the Oilers because they were still with the Cowboys. Much like the current area for Raiders are mostly 49ers fans. So Houston decided to move to Tennessee [Memphis originally] and rebuild as the Titans with Steve McNair and Eddie George leading the charge.

To this day, the Titans have never won a Super Bowl but they still make a LOT of money for the state of Tennessee. Raiders still make a lot of money from Los Angeles and there's a huge fan base there. Why not go back and capitalize on it?

This is awesome. I've been waiting for LA to get a team back for so long. All this talk about how they want a team in London, specifically Roger Goodell, makes me sick. A team would NEVER work in London. There would be no fan base there regardless of what their research says. It's good for one game there or something, but to have a team there? It wouldn't work. I wouldn't mind Canada getting a team somewhere in the league as far as other countries go, but I just don't think London would be interested enough. At least compared to a city like LA.

I'd honestly like to see the Jags go there though. Or the Bills. I like the Chargers in San Diego, and I think Raiders work in Oakland too.

Actually, London has shown that they DO want football there. Currently, the Legends Football League [an all women's league] has expanded from being a 10 team United States only league to being an international football league similar to the Fifa and Fiba tournaments. In fact, they've already got 5 European teams, 5 Australian teams, and 4 Canadian teams with teams from Asian countries like Japan and China on the way as well as Mexico. They even have a deal with Yuke's to develop an actual video game, though a release date hasn't been announced yet. A little side note, Summer Rae's former team the Chicago Bliss just won the LFL US title last season.

If a small time football league such as the LFL can garner enough attention outside of the United States, I don't see how the NFL couldn't either. Maybe they could merge with the CFL, and maybe even a few of the European leagues already in existence (they do exist).

 

[BringThePain834]

Still a Vikes fan no matter what.

 

[braveh]

Believe it or not. The popularity and "coolness" of football is cyclical. I remember the mid to late 90s. When this current cycle goes down, its not going to be fun to have a crappy nfl team in LA in a 100k stadium. Its going to be an embarrassment for the league. Media will pick up on it too. Plus there are few loyal fans in LA. LA is not like boston or philly where people support their teams no matter what.

 

[Papa Pillman]

What the NFL needs is realignment, not relocations.

No offense, but Rams fans are the ONLY fanbase in the NFL that thinks that the league needs realignment.

When the league expanded to 32 teams, and considering the shortage of western based franchises as well as the need to keep the most longstanding rivalries intact, it executed perhaps the most perfect realignment possible and maybe the best in the history of American team sports.

The only truly oddly placed teams(aside from the Rams and Chiefs) are the Cowboys and Dolphins, and each team fought for the spot to remain as division partners with the teams that they share a division with due to the historic nature of their existing rivalries. Hell even the other Missouri based team, who is equally as strangely positioned as the Rams due to the League's lack of Western and Mountain based timezone located franchises, has no problem with its division spot even with the required travel log because it allows them to keep their coveted yearly matchups with the Raiders and especially the Broncos.

Leaving Rams fans as the odd ones out, with no strong division rivalry ties to be too invested in, long travel for all division road games, and being faced with an almost un-winnable division currently due to the fact that we are in a cycle where that division is so strong on top.

I do agree though that Rams are not a truly realistic candidate for a move to L.A. I think their mention in these rumors is simply to help drum up support for a new stadium deal.

As for who will move- I think it surely has to be the Raiders. Their stadium sucks, they'll always be second-fiddle in the Bay area, and there is still a huge holdover fanbase for them in L.A. from their previous time spent in the city.

 

[smizzy]

I really don't want to lose football in St. Louis. But I just can't imagine there not being a change if the Rams can't shake the losing culture. It's frustrating because we absolutely should be a winning team at this point, but we've continued to hurt from injuries and underwhelming draft picks. I don't want to lose the Rams to LA, but shit, they're not making much of a case to stay.

And if it came down to it, I'd rather have a NBA team anyway.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

restraining myself from ripping the OP a new one, it won't be the Rams. Kroenke our owner was part of the group that originally moved the Rams to St. Louis in the first place.

He also just recently purchased massive tracts of open land in the greater LA area.


As for why the Raiders wouldnt work, I already explained why. They are horrifyingly bad, and LA has WORLD FAMOUS front-runner fans.

 

[Akhilleus]

Actually, London has shown that they DO want football there. Currently, the Legends Football League [an all women's league] has expanded from being a 10 team United States only league to being an international football league similar to the Fifa and Fiba tournaments. In fact, they've already got 5 European teams, 5 Australian teams, and 4 Canadian teams with teams from Asian countries like Japan and China on the way as well as Mexico. They even have a deal with Yuke's to develop an actual video game, though a release date hasn't been announced yet. A little side note, Summer Rae's former team the Chicago Bliss just won the LFL US title last season.

If a small time football league such as the LFL can garner enough attention outside of the United States, I don't see how the NFL couldn't either. Maybe they could merge with the CFL, and maybe even a few of the European leagues already in existence (they do exist).

Sorry, I don't buy it. Yeah maybe when they have a visiting game there it draws a crowd, but for eight games there? It wouldn't work. They drew large crowds because most of those people thought it'd be their only chance to see a live NFL game which is an experience in itself whether you like the sport or not. Maybe for the first couple of years, but if that team even starts to suck a little bit the fans will disappear, but I get the feeling most of them would lose interest whether they're winning or losing anyway. It's just not their culture and you can't force it into their culture. They like soccer and rugby, and really those two sports are so different from Football with all the stopping and breaks. The UK would hate it. Not to mention the time difference, all of their games would be right at dinner time for 1:00pm games, and for prime time games it'd be in the middle of the night.

Free Agency would be impossible because not a lot of players would want to go there.

It wouldn't work, and even if they did bring a team over there and it started to look successful fan interest wise for the first year, crowds will start to dwindle more and more.

The team wouldn't last five years there.

Yeah Big Roger wants a London team, but he doesn't get to decide those things. It's a business point of view, and from the owners perspective why would they take the risk and lose the money when they can move their team to a city like LA. A city with a proven large fan base, good for location and time, great city to draw in free agents, and a great city for profits.

I think for an international team, a Canadian city would be the only one to have a chance to be successful. Toronto or Montreal both would probably give good fights. London though, it just won't work.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

restraining myself from ripping the OP a new one, it won't be the Rams. Kroenke our owner was part of the group that originally moved the Rams to St. Louis in the first place.

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nfl/...-rams-owner-planning-stadium-site-los-angeles


Oh, by this, you mean the same owner who will be 110% the direct reason why the Rams move back to LA within the above described timeframe?

Enjoy watching the Rams on NFL Sunday ticket while you "restrain yourself from ripping me a new one" you fucking fool.

 

[A11oftheLights]

Yeah because the team which played as the Los Angeles Raiders for over 10 years going back to being said Los Angeles Raiders is such a hard thing to believe. Because the fact that a large portion of Raiders fan base lives in Los Angeles is unfathomable. Because returning to the city where you won your last Super Bowl isn't possible. Face it, if anybody is in the run for the city to call their own it's the Raiders. The fans in LA aren't terrible fans, and can really add something to the team that the current Oakland crowd just doesn't do... excitement for the game.

I look at this like the Tennessee Titans becoming the Tennessee Titans. They started as the Oilers in Houston before moving to Tennessee. Houston didn't care for the Oilers because they were still with the Cowboys. Much like the current area for Raiders are mostly 49ers fans. So Houston decided to move to Tennessee [Memphis originally] and rebuild as the Titans with Steve McNair and Eddie George leading the charge.

To this day, the Titans have never won a Super Bowl but they still make a LOT of money for the state of Tennessee. Raiders still make a lot of money from Los Angeles and there's a huge fan base there. Why not go back and capitalize on it?




Actually, London has shown that they DO want football there. Currently, the Legends Football League [an all women's league] has expanded from being a 10 team United States only league to being an international football league similar to the Fifa and Fiba tournaments. In fact, they've already got 5 European teams, 5 Australian teams, and 4 Canadian teams with teams from Asian countries like Japan and China on the way as well as Mexico. They even have a deal with Yuke's to develop an actual video game, though a release date hasn't been announced yet. A little side note, Summer Rae's former team the Chicago Bliss just won the LFL US title last season.

If a small time football league such as the LFL can garner enough attention outside of the United States, I don't see how the NFL couldn't either. Maybe they could merge with the CFL, and maybe even a few of the European leagues already in existence (they do exist).

The LFL is lingerie american football do not try and say it is a women's football league. It's shouldnt even be considered as a sports league.

As for London I wouldnt think its the best home for a team especially when LA doesnt have a team. Yeah they may get a big crowd for the annual game they play their but its a gimmick kind of thing, a one-off event where individuals cant experience it any other time but then and there. If you start offering it week in week out your crowds arent going to be consistently great. Sure your die hards will show up each week but the general public won't, which if we're honest thats what most of the people turning up for.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on...-stadium-plan-including-rams-owner-as-partner


So Kroenke's stadium proposal got approved, and can begin construction soon.


Bye-Bye Rams. Hello LA Rams.

It makes me wonder what kind of dominoes fall here....Surely, the Chargers will move, or want to. A large portion of their fan base comes from LA, and they have a decrepit stadium.

Is San Antonio still waiting in the wings? Will St.Louis be an option if they show progress on a stadium deal? Were does this leave the Raiders?

How will the Rams modify their roster for their new glossy market? Drafting Pac-12 hero Marcus Mariota?

 

[Thriller Ant]

I think the St. Louis stadium proposal was more of a thing to keep the Rams, rather than have an NFL team, if that makes sense. Maybe it'll happen down the line, but it is still far away from any construction beginning, and I don't know how much demand there really is for a team in St. Louis. I know I couldn't care less, and a lot of people I know would only go to games when they wanted to see the other team.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

restraining myself from ripping the OP a new one, it won't be the Rams. Kroenke our owner was part of the group that originally moved the Rams to St. Louis in the first place.

Oh hey,


hi


hey


Remember when you said this?




THE RAMS, Chargers and Raiders all submitted their official requests to move to LA yesterday. Voting is set to take place in a couple weeks.


Word has it that the owners are pretty much all for allowing the Chargers to go, iffy on the Rams, and have no interest in having the Raiders there. In truth, the Raiders have no real interest in it either....they are just trying to strong arm the NFL into helping them get a new stadium in Oakland

1. don't have the net worth to pay the 550 million dollar relocation fee

2. Would be twice as valuable in Oakland with a new stadium. They know it, and so does the NFL. It will get worked out.


Owners feathers were ruffled with the way Kroenke went about things, but if he has to play nice with the Chargers to get this done, I think he will. The guy has been the most obvious and adamant one of all of them about leaving his current city behind.

 

[Akhilleus]

I hope it's the Rams, wouldn't mind the Raiders, and I DON'T want to see San Diego. I like San Diego where it's at. Not sure why, but I just like them in that city. I like their uniforms, I like their stadium, there's just something about the San Diego Chargers that makes me think that's a franchise that needs to stay where it's at.

St. Louis though, I don't like them there at all. Same as San Diego, it's a personal thing, but something about their logo and their uniforms just doesn't fit a St. Louis gimmick. I would rather see them leave, and remodel their entire gimmick. Or go back to the classic LA Rams look.

Los Angeles Raiders will be good too, but I like the being in Oakland.

Sadly, the Rams are probably the most unlikely because the city actually has a plan for a new stadium to give them.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

THe Chargers are the most likely to get approval because they have been basically told to go fuck themselves by the city of San Diego for 14 years now, plus 35% of their revenue comes from Riverside and LA county.

For both reasons, them staying in San Diego isn't fiscally reasonable.


I think they will likely retain their uniforms and gimmick though. All three teams will im fairly certain.

 

[Akhilleus]

Apparently though, the Rams owner is so stubborn that he might attempt to move the Rams without approval from the league. I don't know if that's possible, but the report I read sounded like it was.

A team needs 24 votes from 32 of the league's owners in order to move. The Chargers might have the most support league-wide, but Rams owner Stan Kroenke could simply decide to move no matter what. St. Louis is the only city of the three with a realistic stadium plan to keep its team.

So I don't know how that's going to play out with the league. Kroenke really wants to leave St. Louis it seems. I honestly would not be surprised if we see the other two teams from these three end up in different cities down the line anyway. At least the Rams and Charges.

And now that I think about it, the "Los Angeles Chargers" does sound pretty catchy. But they're the only of the three teams to never been in LA before.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Apparently though, the Rams owner is so stubborn that he might attempt to move the Rams without approval from the league. I don't know if that's possible, but the report I read sounded like it was.

Not only is it possible, it has happened.

The first time the Raiders moved, they went without approval.

 

[J.J.]

I believe at the end of the day, Kroenke will partner with Spanos and share the Inglewood location. That is the only possible way all the owners will allow it based on the split voting.

 

[Thriller Ant]

I just hope he takes the Rams to LA. He doesn't want the team here, so I don't want the city and state to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to appease a guy who will still try to leave at the earliest change.

 

[Akhilleus]

Apparently Kroenke just filed this huge report saying that St. Louis is a two-sport town, and that the city can't accommodate three teams. He also said that the stadium plan that the city provided is atrocious, and that no NFL team would accept that proposal. He said that leaving the Rams in St. Louis makes them doomed for "financial ruin" and the league would be seriously harmed.

He has really made a huge push with this. He also said they plan on building another facility that can be used for NFL Events such that the draft and other cermonies.

It definitely seems like he has the best plan out of the three teams, and it also sounds like he's going there whether the league likes it or not. The Chargers and Raiders aren't fighting near as much as the Rams are, so I think the league and the owners might give way.

We definitely might see more than one team make the move. Which isn't entirely impossible. LA has two teams in pretty much every other sport, and New York has two teams in the league already.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

I believe at the end of the day, Kroenke will partner with Spanos and share the Inglewood location. That is the only possible way all the owners will allow it based on the split voting.

This is the way its going to play out. As Akhilleus just pointed out, Kroenke is going, one way or the other.


On the other hand, the owners have fully supported Spanos and the Chargers going.


They will find a way to work together, it will be the Chargers and Rams.

 

[Akhilleus]

Roger Goodell has pretty much come out and said that all three teams (Rams, Chargers, Raiders) have horrible situations in their current cities, and there is no way any of them can be able to succeed there. The words he used specifically were "Inadequate" and "Unsatisfactory".

So what happens? Rams and Chargers take LA, and do the Raiders move somewhere new as well? By the sounds of it, all three teams could be relocating.

There haven't been any legitimate discussions on other cities besides Los Angeles for relocation. I know Roger Goodell has dreams of a London franchise, but LA is the only city that actually has stadium plans.

I'm not sure how long it would take for them to find a completely new city to move to. Surely all three teams can't move to Los Angeles...however the commissioner just came out and said that all three teams are in horrible conditions with their cities right now.

This is actually quite the turn of events, because it was my understanding before that Roger was against any team moving.