[Elvis]

Well it's been 3 weeks since Houston and i was thinking about what actually happened.

I have it about like this (feel free to disagree):

The Rams were planning the move to L.A. at least since Kroenke tried to buy the Dodgers.

The Dodger offer was about moving the Rams.

When that failed, Kroenke moved his focus to Inglewood.

The NFL (league office) was on board and supported Kroenke in his effort to move.

Now for the more controversial part:

Carson wasn't a bluff, at least Dean Spanos didn't think it was a bluff.

Spanos/Carson had a legitimate chance of stopping Inglewood.

But in the end, they failed pretty miserably and Dean Spanos was genuinely shocked by his loss...

[BuiltRamTough]

"But in the end, they failed pretty miserably and Dean Spanos was genuinely shocked by his loss..."

My favorite part.

[Hacksaw]

That and McDickardson colluding against the Rams. The were running an anti progress campaign which morphed into taking LA. An ill conceived plan by some real putz's. The D in Dean also stands for delusional.

I too think that ESK had a vision of the Dodgers and Rams playing up on the hill at Chavez Ravine.

[Stranger]

"But in the end, they failed pretty miserably and Dean Spanos was genuinely shocked by his loss..."

My favorite part.

I'd say Spanos was duped by his own team (i.e. Fabiani)

[TSFH Fan]

Carson wasn't a bluff, at least Dean Spanos didn't think it was a bluff.

To me, it never made sense for Spanos to partner up with Davis. I was one of those in the "it makes no sense, on many multiple levels, for the owners to allow Davis/Raiders back in LA especially after the Raiders gave the league the finger in moving back to Oakland" camp.

So Richardson threw Davis and Spanos together in a serious attempt to get them both into LA?

Ok, if not a bluff, sure seems to be a serious defect in the tactical approach there -- which this article seems to support:
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... es-owners/

Excerpt:

‘‘Oakland gets nothing,’’ Texans owner Robert McNair. ‘‘Al used to sue us all the time.’’

McNair didn’t even join the league until 2002, and yet his feelings about the litigiousness of a man who had been dead for more than four years are blunt and raw. How do the owners who actually lived through the worst of the legal battles feel?

The comments from McNair underscore a sense that has been percolating around the league for years. The Raiders won’t move to L.A. as long as Mark Davis owns the team.

[bubbaramfan]

I disagree. Carson was ALWAYS a bluff. Spanos was always about blocking Kroenke moving to LA. If Carson was awarded, I believe the remediation fiasco would have entailed, delaying the project for years or killing it outright, (which Spanos knew would happen) and end up staying in SD. No team in LA for another X amount of years, just the way he wanted it.

There was a concerted effort to keep the remidiation of the Carson site quiet. Had they awarded Carson, the EPA and Calif. State Board of Health guidelines would have had to been made public. The extent of the toxic waste problem would have become national.

We talked about here right from the beginning, and I still maintain it was decided when St. Louis reneged on the lease the Rams were moving to LA. All the rest was a dog and pony show to make it look fair.

[trueblue&gold]

The reality is that the Carson project was always a reaction to what Stan did. It was a defensive move and it always felt like it. The land "purchase" was telling of that, The fact that they had very little details about the actual stadium other than some pretty marketing drawings proved that. The owners saw through that. The Chargers and Raiders spent very little actual money on the Carson effort. By comparison, Stan spent millions upon millions on everything from actual land acquisition to very detailed construction plans to go along with all of the pretty drawings. That is what a true commitment looks like.
The Dean put it best when he said the Chargers started to believe their own spin.