[Elvis]

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/comm ... geles.html

Reid: Handoff to NFL owners' committee could signal boost for Carson project

After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, Eric Grubman served on the USS Boston, a nuclear submarine.

In recent years, Grubman, the NFL executive vice president, has deftly navigated the league through often troubled and now uncharted waters to the shores of Los Angeles.

That the NFL appears to be only months, possibly weeks, away from committing to return to Los Angeles for the 2016 season after 20 years of missteps, false hopes and promises, is due in large part to Grubman’s stewardship.

“Eric deserves credit for bringing (the Los Angeles relocation process) to where it is today,” said Marc Ganis, a Chicago-based sports business consultant who was involved in the Raiders’ and Rams’ relocations in 1994.

But as the NFL prepares for meetings next week in New York that will shape the final stages of the relocation process, Grubman is turning over the controls to Commissioner Roger Goodell and a committee of six influential owners, a move that many in and around the NFL believe favors the Chargers’ and Raiders’ $1.75 billion stadium project in Carson over Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s plans for a $1.86 billion venue in Inglewood.

“Very important and very appropriate,” Ganis said of the move to shift the direction of the relocation process to the Los Angeles committee. “This is not a staff decision. This needs to be made by the owners.”

Franchises need approval of three-quarters of the league’s 32 owners to relocate. The Chargers and Raiders currently have the nine votes to block the Rams from relocating to the Los Angeles market, according to league sources.

Many in the league believe a majority of the six owners on the NFL’s Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities favor or are leaning toward the Carson project, especially if a task force appointed by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon can come up with a viable stadium option for the Rams in St. Louis.

The six owners who make up the committee that will steer the league through the remainder of the relocation process are Bob Kraft of New England, Art Rooney of Pittsburgh, John Mara of the Giants, Bob McNair of Houston, Clark Hunt of Kansas City and Jerry Richardson of Carolina.

“The most powerful committee ever assembled in the league’s history,” Ganis said.

Richardson, as co-chairman of the NFL executive committee, played a leading role in negotiating a 10-year collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association in 2011. Mara is the chairman of the league’s management council executive committee. Kraft chairs the broadcast committee, McNair heads the finance committee and Rooney is chairman of the stadium committee. Hunt heads the international committee.

The Los Angeles committee and league staff will go over relocation guidelines, relocation fees and timing of potential moves to Southern California during meetings next week in New York. While the Los Angeles committee and league staff will report on trends in the relocation process and discuss logical outcomes, there will be no votes or commitments on specifics.

Richardson has told people in the league he favors the Carson project.The Carolina owner, Rooney and other owners have pushed for telling the three franchises looking to relocate where they stand with the league so they won’t continue to spend money on projects that might not come to fruition and signal to the team or teams that they might need to begin repairing relations in their current markets.

Rooney and Richardson are also said to be bullish on enforcing the league’s relocation guidelines. Under the guidelines, before locating, franchises must address “the willingness of the stadium authority or the community to remedy any deficiencies in or to replace such facility, including whether there are legislative or referenda proposals pending to address these issues.”

Los Angeles committee members believe St. Louis is currently the only one of the three local markets on track to produce a viable stadium option, though league sources said that San Diego officials met with Goodell and some committee members to seek more time to reach a deal with the Chargers.

The St. Louis task force has proposed a $998-million waterfront stadium north of downtown. Under the task force’s proposal, $201 million of the stadium's financing would come from city and state bonds with another $160 million coming from the sale of seat licenses. Nixon wants to fund the new stadium by extending bonds on the debt for the Edward Jones Dome, the Rams’ current home. Extending the bonds could provide as much as $350 million for the new stadium.

The plan also calls for the Rams to provide $250 million. The project would also receive a $200 million loan from an NFL fund and another $187 million in tax incentives.

Committee members have made it clear they would have a hard time approving the Rams’ relocation to Inglewood with a viable plan including hundreds of millions in public money on the table in St. Louis.

“From my point of view, if they come up with a plan that looks pretty good and a strong financial package, I think we, the NFL have an obligation in my opinion to have a team in St. Louis,” Kraft said earlier this year.

The enigma on the committee is Hunt, although many in the league believe it would be hard for the Chiefs owner to support the Rams’ relocation for political reasons in Missouri.

Kroenke has his own high-profile supporters including Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Daniel Snyder of Washington and Jeffrey Lurie of Philadelphia.

Still NFL insiders don’t expect the Battle for Los Angeles to be decided in a floor fight at league meetings in Dallas in December or early in 2016. Instead, Goodell and the Los Angeles committee are expected to work behind the scenes to build a consensus in order present a unified front publicly when relocation is ultimately approved.

In doing so, the committee, like Grubman, will proceed carefully. While franchises relocating to Los Angeles could up their value to $2 billion according to some estimates, the nation’s second-largest market has been invaluable to the league in the 21 years since the Raiders and Rams left, the threat of moving to Los Angeles serving as a glittering hammer to leverage cities and municipalities into funding stadiums in their current markets.

Since 1997, NFL stadiumconstruction projects have received $4.76 billion in public funding.

“Los Angeles has been so important to the league’s stadium negotiations or you could say Los Angeles has been important to the league’s stadium blackmail,” said Victor Matheson, a Holy Cross economics professor. “The NFL needs to come up with the best possible deal for L.A. because as soon as it loses L.A. to relocation the stadium deals become harder. You only get to take a bite out of that L.A. apple once.”

[Elvis]

Kroenke has his own high-profile supporters including Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Daniel Snyder of Washington and Jeffrey Lurie of Philadelphia.

Had we heard Lurie's name before?

[RedAlice]

Not public.

But, I keep saying....JJ has his group. We just don't know who they are.

Direct quote: I always have enough votes on my team to block anything. Always. It's what I do.

[majik]

We will probably hear a bunch of pro-Carson stuff after this next meeting as the Spanos NFL good soldier campaign will attempt to help their buddy's leverage. We could perhaps hear some Kroenke Spanos deal whispers as well. December is when Stan gets his permits and begins construction where one of three scenarios plays out:

Spanos swallows his pride and becomes Stan's tenant with a sweetheart deal. (No rent, keep gameday revenues, sponsorships, and PSL money)

Kroenke makes above deal with Davis and Spanos gets screwed.

Kroenke goes to LA alone leaving Davis and Spanos leverage to be a future second team.

[BuiltRamTough]

This is called extortion but I really don't care I just want the Rams back. It's funny though, when you have a lot of money people try to take advantage. Spanos and Davis should pay off Stan to stay in STL, how about that? After all Stan was the one who was proactive and made the first move. Without him LA would still be in limbo. If I had to bet on it, Davis and Spanos might not even get a penny. If this went to court Stan would win. His argument would be, I met all the relocation guidelines I made the first move my plan was more advanced but "some" owners didn't approve for various reasons and they're tried to extort me.

It's not like Stan would be alone in court, he would have some owners and league execs backing him up.

Just like OldSchool said in anther post. The only way I see Stan paying off them 2 is if he has total control of LA in the future. Whether a team comes or not it'll be his call. Forever.

[den-the-coach]

Just like OldSchool said in anther post. The only way I see Stan paying off them 2 is if he has total control of LA in the future. Whether a team comes or not it'll be his call. Forever.

Totally concur and that's why I always back the team or person with the most cash...Kroenke easily shuts up big fatty and the dutch boy and thus gains total control of the city of angels and never looks back! IMHO that's how this is going to go down because in no way, shape or form will the NFL have a stadium on a dump sight. Just not going to happen.

[SoCalRam78]

A backroom deal will be struck and the "vote" will be a formality.

[SoCalRam78]

We will probably hear a bunch of pro-Carson stuff after this next meeting as the Spanos NFL good soldier campaign will attempt to help their buddy's leverage. We could perhaps hear some Kroenke Spanos deal whispers as well. December is when Stan gets his permits and begins construction where one of three scenarios plays out:

Spanos swallows his pride and becomes Stan's tenant with a sweetheart deal. (No rent, keep gameday revenues, sponsorships, and PSL money)

Kroenke makes above deal with Davis and Spanos gets screwed.

Kroenke goes to LA alone leaving Davis and Spanos leverage to be a future second team.

Nothing new, for every pro Inglewood article (if such a thing exists) there's 20-30 pro Carson articles.

[SoCalRam78]

This is called extortion but I really don't care I just want the Rams back. It's funny though, when you have a lot of money people try to take advantage. Spanos and Davis should pay off Stan to stay in STL, how about that? After all Stan was the one who was proactive and made the first move. Without him LA would still be in limbo. If I had to bet on it, Davis and Spanos might not even get a penny. If this went to court Stan would win. His argument would be, I met all the relocation guidelines I made the first move my plan was more advanced but "some" owners didn't approve for various reasons and they're tried to extort me.

It's not like Stan would be alone in court, he would have some owners and league execs backing him up.

Just like OldSchool said in anther post. The only way I see Stan paying off them 2 is if he has total control of LA in the future. Whether a team comes or not it'll be his call. Forever.

Here's the rundown in any article coming out about relocation.

1. Rams have a goof offer in St. Louis, SD and Oakland do not

2. Kroenke is making a selfish power play

3. Davis and Spanos deserve to get a new stadium, they've been at it long enough

4. California solution is good, St. Louis should keep their team, Oakland and SD not important because CALIFORNIA

[bubbaramfan]

I don't think Stan gives two shits to what the talking heads are saying, or what Spanos and Davis are scheming. He's got his ducks in a row and he's going to build a top tier stadium complex in Inglewood. He's quiet because he doesn't have to say anything. Meanwhile, the landfill is quiet.

If Carson is really an option, they better get their ass in gear and start with the remediation. because thats going to take awhile, at least 18 months.