NFL Merry-Go-Round: Relocation Roundelay

[Mac the Knife]

They could get Joe Buck to finance their proposal, and it wouldn't help.

[TBGKon]

Sure seems that way.

I would say the Rose Bowl is the obvious temporary home. At least for the first team to announce. After that, Dodger Stadium seems more likely than the Coliseum.

Kinda surprised about Dodger Stadium being a serious temp location, but hey may it's better amenity wise. Rose bowl for sure is option #1

[Gothamite]

With Dodger Stadium, it's more about location than anything else. That's why the NFL had for years pursued a stadium in its parking lots.

[STL FANATIC]

Joe Buck is pretty outspoken on the NFL-STL stuff. Wouldn't surprise me if he goes on about it on a national telecast. I'm sure it would draw plenty of ire, but I'd sure be pleased to hear it.

But that's relative to St. Louis' support of the NFL.

The video itself is full of bad cliche's for stadium funding.

This is THE way to revitalize downtown. Sure. Just like all the other stadium projects. Hooray for silver bullets.

Build on the urban fabric of the city. Well that'd be nice, but actually you're tearing a bunch of it down for parking lots...

There are some good arguments for the stadium, but those aren't them.

[STL FANATIC]

There's been a number of updates that haven't really gotten mentioned over the last couple weeks. If I missed anything or you've got something to add, obviously feel free.

All

• The NFL's LA Committee met earlier this month with representatives from the two plans.

• Carmen Policy led the meeting for the Carson project and sold it as the best project for football games in LA, for a grander NFL experience in LA, and with two teams that already have southern Californian roots.

• The Rams meeting was led by Stan Kroenke (Kevin Demoff, Kroenke's mouthpiece that has been representing him in meetings with St. Louis, was also said to be there), and their pitch was that the NFL has one shot to get it right and that they believe the Inglewood stadium and their history is that. The Rams may have also offered to help financially to secure stadiums for the Raiders and Chargers.

St. Louis

• The Missouri Attorney General filed a motion to get the Governor removed from the lawsuit filed against him and the stadium task force, arguing that the Governor himself hasn't actually done anything yet (though other organizations/agencies have), so he shouldn't be subject to it.

• The city of St. Louis filed a counter claim in the lawsuit field by the stadium agency that is seeking to have a city ordinance requiring a vote of the citizens thrown out. The counter claim argues not only that the ordinance is valid but also that the stadium agency doesn't have the right to build the stadium at all. It argues that the new stadium would not be on land adjacent to the convention center as the law the stadium agency is citing requires. But rather than actually trying to fight the new stadium, this is probably the city taking a dive and hoping that the judge in this case will define "adjacent" in a manner that allows the stadium to be built. That COULD then set up the other lawsuit to use that definition as precedent, thereby killing to birds with one stone.

San Diego

• The Chargers have stated that they do not believe a Dec. 15th vote is possible without significant and reasonable legal challenge, essentially ruling out the current stadium proposal in San Diego. Either a new plan will be needed or the parties involved will have to find a way to buy more time for a decision.

Oakland

• A financing plan for a stadium plan on the Coliseum site has been shared amongst officials, but the A's have spoken out against the plan for multiple stadiums to be on the site.

[The_Admiral]

The Rams may have also offered to help financially to secure stadiums for the Raiders and Chargers.

Interesting wrinkle. Stadiums in their hometowns or around Los Angeles?

[masterchaoss]

I hope it is in their home, I'd love to see the Raiders and chargers stay were they started, the Rams come back home, I don't know how likely it is but aside for two teams being expand to LA, this would be my preferred option.

[STL FANATIC]

Of the 3 teams, only the Raiders started in Oakland. The Chargers spent a year in LA, the Rams spent a few in Cleveland.

More of an FYI. You can certainly claim the most history for the Chargers is in San Diego, the Raiders in Oakland, and the Rams in LA.

I assume that the financing help would indeed before their home markets as I assume Kroenke's goal is to keep them out of LA. But it was a pretty simple and vague comment, so hard to know to what extent that would go.

[bosrs1]

Of the 3 teams, only the Raiders started in Oakland. The Chargers spent a year in LA, the Rams spent a few in Cleveland.

More of an FYI. You can certainly claim the most history for the Chargers is in San Diego, the Raiders in Oakland, and the Rams in LA.

I assume that the financing help would indeed before their home markets as I assume Kroenke's goal is to keep them out of LA. But it was a pretty simple and vague comment, so hard to know to what extent that would go.

It's definitely a twist, but one that would go a long way toward helping at least the Chargers. As one of the few issues the Chargers claim to have is their portion of the funding toward the stadium in San Diego. If Kroenke could offset some of that...

[The_Admiral]

Offering not only to finance his own stadium in Los Angeles but other people's stadiums elsewhere so they'll leave him the hell alone is quite a move. It's the kind of devious charity you've come to expect from Walmart.

[STL FANATIC]

The lawsuit against the City of St. Louis (the one seeking to throw out an ordinance requiring a citizen vote) was heard today. No ruling yet.

Give this timeline a read if you want some lengthy play-by-play: https://twitter.com/davidhunn

It sounds like the argument surrounding the meaning of "adjacent" is likely to be ruled in a favor that would allow the stadium to be built. The lawsuit filed by state legislators in part argues that same point, and while it's not automatic, this ruling could serve as precedent for that.

Back to the other part of the city lawsuit, though; I couldn't glean any interpretation about how the judge is leaning concerning the city ordinance. Maybe slightly towards throwing it out as he sounded critical of it and I have a cynical approach to this were I feel like it's bought and paid for* anyways. But it's hard to tell.

(* - I'm not alleging real overt financial corruption, but I think there's probably a favors for friends type of thing that will happen here. But who knows.)

[IanC]

Not sure how many know this (Could be speculation) but in the U.K it has been reported that since Tottenham Hotspur have started work on the new stadium they have been in talks with the NFL to either have a franchise or possibly take over from the international series that is currently held at Wembley. Poor sight lines at the lowest level at Wembley means the seats are not used.

NFL eye Tottenham's new ground as home for London-based American Football franchise

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/tottenham-hotspur/11322205/NFL-eye-Tottenhams-new-ground-as-home-for-London-based-American-Football-franchise.html

Tottenham in talks with the NFL to host American football in new £400m stadium

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham-in-talks-with-the-nfl-to-host-an-american-franchise-in-new-400m-stadium-10197801.html

Tottenham hopes to share London stadium with NFL team

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/04/24/tottenham-hopes-to-share-london-stadium-with-nfl-team/

Tottenham could install artificial pitch at new stadium to boost NFL bid

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/tottenham-hotspur/11558388/Tottenham-could-install-artificial-pitch-at-new-stadium-to-boost-NFL-bid.html

New Tottenham stadium granted permission for basement to aid potential NFL ground share

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/new-tottenham-stadium-granted-permission-5932894

Again not sure if this is just speculation from the media over here but it keeps being hinted at. Over on a Tottenham fans forum it was hinted at by someone allegedly in the know that Daniel Levy the chairman of Enic who own Tottenham was seen to be having meetings with NFL representatives.

[2001mark]

lols Wembley

[bosrs1]

Wonder if that's been the NFL's game all along then. Expansion into LA and London.

[Gothamite]

I don't see how that could plausibly work, given time zones and travel times.

[rams80]

Wonder if that's been the NFL's game all along then. Expansion into LA and London.

Probably not, because that's dumber than the NHL and yeah the NFL's not that stupid.

[Saint Zephyr III]

Wonder if that's been the NFL's game all along then. Expansion into LA and London.

Probably not, because that's dumber than the NHL and yeah the NFL's not that stupid.

Do not underestimate Goodell on this...he might push hard on it as a "legacy" accomplishment before he resigns.

[HedleyLamarr]

I don't see how that could plausibly work, given time zones and travel times.

I think it could work, but only with the NFL making some more requirements to the schedule.

First off, this London team would almost certainly need a state-side full practice facility in a city that has multiple daily flights to London. The NFL would likely fund the entirety of the funding for this.

As for the actual scheduling, the London would likely have to play their home and road games in blocks of at least 2: two home, three away, three home, three away, three home, two away (or something like this). And, the road opponents that have London on their schedule would likely have to play east of the Mississippi River the week before, just to cut down on travel time.

A London team would probably hold their training camp at the state-side facility and host their home pre-season games somewhere in that city.

As for the playoffs, not much you can do about that, other than placing the London team (home or away) on Sunday instead of Saturday.

The NFL's been pretty smooth with their researching of London being a viable option. It began as a one-game-a-year deal, then started doing a game there annually. Then it became multiple games in a season. Last year saw a game being played in the afternoon in London instead of evening. This year will see all afternoon games in London to gauge how they handle multiple afternoon games. (As well as how Americans adjust to these 9:30am ET games.) We'll also see how London sees the same team in multiple years (with the Jaguars).

[bosrs1]

Guess the league is exploring temp stadium options for 2016 in LA. Options on the table include Rose Bowl, LA Coliseum, Dodger Stadium, Angel Stadium, and the StubHub Center.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000498995/article/dodger-stadium-angel-stadium-among-la-venue-options

[The_Admiral]

I see two options on the table and three sports venues which factually speaking are located in the Los Angeles area.