19 hours ago
Three teams -- the St Louis Rams, the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders -- are all hoping to persuade the 32 owners of the NFL to vote in favor of their applications to move to Los Angeles.
The
most popular sport in America has been a notable absentee from the
nation's second biggest media market since 1994, when the Los Angeles
Rams and Los Angeles Raiders played their last games in the city.
The
Rams left for St Louis, lured by the prospect of a new taxpayer-funded
stadium, while the Raiders returned to their Bay Area home in northern
California after just over a decade in Los Angeles.
However
the Rams, owned by the billionaire Stan Kroenke, are bidding to return
to Los Angeles where they are planning a new 70,000-capacity stadium in
Inglewood with a reported price tag of more than $2 billion.
The
Chargers and Raiders meanwhile have tabled a proposal to cohabit in a
new $1.75 billion stadium in the south Los Angeles suburb of Carson.
- Vote mystery -
How the NFL owners vote when they meet in Houston on Tuesday and Wednesday remains shrouded in mystery.
However
a report issued to all 32 NFL teams on Saturday by NFL Commissioner
Roger Goodell increased the probability that one or more teams will be
heading to the City of Angels in time for next season.
Goodell's
memo concluded that existing stadiums in Oakland, St Louis and San
Diego were "unsatisfactory and inadequate" for NFL standards, according
to the Los Angeles Times.
Proposed
solutions designed to keep the three teams in their current locations
were also deemed not viable, the Times report said.
Goodell said officials in
each city had "ample opportunity but did not develop their proposals
sufficiently to ensure the retention of its NFL team."
The NFL
report also revealed that market research conducted on the league's
behalf had concluded Los Angeles could support two teams -- a finding
that raises the prospect of one team facing disappointment. A twist to the saga emerged last week with multiple reports stating that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had proposed a deal which would see the Rams and the Chargers share the new stadium being planned by Kroenke's group.
Chargers
owner Dean Spanos had rejected a stadium share with the Rams last
month, rejecting overtures from Kroenke in a terse two-paragraph letter
to Los Angeles officials.
"Nothing
in Stan's letter gives me any reason to reconsider my partnership with
(Raiders owner) Mark Davis and our chosen stadium site," Spanos said.
However
NFL owners are reportedly lukewarm about approving the Raiders return
to Los Angeles, and support amongst team bosses for a joint
Rams-Chargers deal was growing according to a Los Angeles Times report.
For a move to be approved, bidding teams need to obtain 24 votes from the 32 owners to be successful.
If there is a deadlock a decision could still be postponed for up to a year, but analysts believe that is unlikely.
No comments:
Post a Comment