NFL Expects Team in L.A. for 2016

NFL owners indicated Tuesday that they expect one or more football teams to occupy the Los Angeles market as soon as 2016.

San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos, St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, and Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis each met with the full 32-member NFL ownership on Wednesday regarding the potential of each one’s respective team making a move to L.A. The NFL Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities also met Tuesday to discuss the issue, according to the Orange County Register. The committee is expected to make a recommendation to the ownership on Wednesday.

The three likely L.A. market outcomes involve the three teams and two potential new stadiums. The Chargers and Raiders could move to a new $1.7 billion proposed stadium in the Carson area; the Rams could move to a $1.86 billion proposed stadium in the Inglewood area; or the Chargers and Rams could move to the Inglewood site.

Spanos may have an edge on the L.A. competition. Reporting indicates that he has more votes among league owners than Kroenke and enough to block the Rams’ move to Inglewood. Though Spanos may have majority support among the committee, he may not have the three-quarters needed to score relocation for the Chargers.

The league is expected to announce a decision on L.A. in January regarding which team or teams will make the move for the 2016 season, the Register reported. “There’s serious money being spent, serious commitment is being made in L.A. right at the time,” Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said on Tuesday from the NFL Park Avenue offices. “And that money is indicative of something happening in the near term.” Rooney and several other owners concurred with Jones’ sentiment.

Los Angeles has been without a team since the Rams and Raiders left in 1994. That’s a 21-year hiatus, leaving the Chargers drawing a portion of regular traffic from the Los Angeles market. The Chargers spent a mere one year in L.A. over 50 years ago, while the Raiders spent 14 years in the city, overlapping the 49 years that the Rams spent there.

Two days of talks between the NFL owners are expected to wrap up Wednesday evening, according to the Register.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in August that the league has been looking for a long-term plan for the Los Angeles market for the past two decades.

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