Albert Breer on October's Meeting
PostPosted:9 years 4 months ago
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... erspective
Extra point
It made news this week when word surfaced that St. Louis and San Diego -- the cities, not their teams -- would not be given an audience at next month's owners meetings in New York.
That meeting has long been treated as a major milepost in the path back to Los Angeles. And it is one, in a way. But not in the way that involving those municipalities -- trying to keep their football franchises -- need to be involved.
As far as planning for L.A. is concerned, this particular summit simply isn't the venue for discussion with the existing markets, with the feeling being that a committee setting -- rather than a full league meeting -- is more conducive to the necessary give-and-take.
So what could be negotiated in New York?
For one, a relocation fee could be agreed to, as well as how it would be paid out. For another, we could get the new relocation window finalized: It is expected to be moved up from where it is currently, running from Jan. 1 to Feb. 15. And finally, there's a chance owners could settle on a temporary 2016 site for whoever lands in Southern California -- with the Coliseum being the only obvious option now, though some believe the Rose Bowl could be lured back in.
Every game, all season
And with that on the table, there really wasn't a huge need to take another look at where the existing markets are. "I think they just decided those projects aren't going to be complete and they want them to be actionable before bringing them before the owners again," one involved source told me. "They also wanted more dialogue, and the presentations wouldn't help."
As for where things stand now, the Raiders/Chargers project in Carson is still in the design phase, while the Rams project in Inglewood is expected to have completed construction drawings in about six weeks, which would be the final step before putting a shovel in the ground.
One thing seems to be certain here: The owners aren't going to leave the Chargers stranded in Qualcomm Stadium (as presently constituted) at the end of all of this.
Dean Spanos easily has the most political capital of the three owners involved, and has garnered the most sympathy based on his own situation. He's made it clear the status quo is no longer acceptable. So when the dust settles and we know what the plan is for Los Angeles, it's a very good bet that the Chargers will either be one of the teams there or they'll have a stadium solution in San Diego.
So that means, if the league moves forward with the Rams' project in Inglewood, and if the building ultimately ends up housing two NFL teams (as many have speculated), the likelihood now is that that second team would be the Chargers, not the Raiders.
Follow Albert Breer on Twitter @AlbertBreer.
Extra point
It made news this week when word surfaced that St. Louis and San Diego -- the cities, not their teams -- would not be given an audience at next month's owners meetings in New York.
That meeting has long been treated as a major milepost in the path back to Los Angeles. And it is one, in a way. But not in the way that involving those municipalities -- trying to keep their football franchises -- need to be involved.
As far as planning for L.A. is concerned, this particular summit simply isn't the venue for discussion with the existing markets, with the feeling being that a committee setting -- rather than a full league meeting -- is more conducive to the necessary give-and-take.
So what could be negotiated in New York?
For one, a relocation fee could be agreed to, as well as how it would be paid out. For another, we could get the new relocation window finalized: It is expected to be moved up from where it is currently, running from Jan. 1 to Feb. 15. And finally, there's a chance owners could settle on a temporary 2016 site for whoever lands in Southern California -- with the Coliseum being the only obvious option now, though some believe the Rose Bowl could be lured back in.
Every game, all season
And with that on the table, there really wasn't a huge need to take another look at where the existing markets are. "I think they just decided those projects aren't going to be complete and they want them to be actionable before bringing them before the owners again," one involved source told me. "They also wanted more dialogue, and the presentations wouldn't help."
As for where things stand now, the Raiders/Chargers project in Carson is still in the design phase, while the Rams project in Inglewood is expected to have completed construction drawings in about six weeks, which would be the final step before putting a shovel in the ground.
One thing seems to be certain here: The owners aren't going to leave the Chargers stranded in Qualcomm Stadium (as presently constituted) at the end of all of this.
Dean Spanos easily has the most political capital of the three owners involved, and has garnered the most sympathy based on his own situation. He's made it clear the status quo is no longer acceptable. So when the dust settles and we know what the plan is for Los Angeles, it's a very good bet that the Chargers will either be one of the teams there or they'll have a stadium solution in San Diego.
So that means, if the league moves forward with the Rams' project in Inglewood, and if the building ultimately ends up housing two NFL teams (as many have speculated), the likelihood now is that that second team would be the Chargers, not the Raiders.
Follow Albert Breer on Twitter @AlbertBreer.