Bye-bye Raiders? New L.A.stadium gains NFL owners' support

 

By Jay Cohen

Associated Press

Published 820/2015

Los Angeles hasn't had an NFL team since the Rams and Raiders departed after the 1994 season. Now they want to resume their L.A. story, and the Chargers are looking to leave their home city since 1961.

At stake is one of the country's largest markets, and the NFL is focused on a long-term solution.

"That's the key issue for us, making sure that whatever we ultimately decide as a membership, that we have the ability to be successful in Los Angeles for the long term," Goodell said, "and that's why we spent the last two decades trying to come up with a solution that we felt would provide that kind of foundation."

The high-stakes game of musical chairs likely will send at least one team back to a market it tried to leave, but Goodell said the teams know the risk.

"Those are the circumstances as they are," he said. "You take a risk if you file for relocation of whether it'll be approved."

The Chargers and Raiders, long-time AFC West rivals, are pushing a shared $1.7 billion venue involving about 170 acres in Carson, a city of 93,000 people south of downtown Los Angeles. Owners Dean Spanos of the Chargers and Mark Davis of the Raiders spoke during their 30-minute presentation at the meetings, and Carmen Policy, a former 49ers executive who was hired to help oversee the project, said the group touted the transportation and location advantages of its proposed site, and the history of the teams.

"It cures the California dilemma and you're not only curing the California dilemma, but you're curing it with California teams," Policy said. "These teams have been born and bred in California. They never left California. They've always been in California."

Davis said he talked about the progress that the group had made over the past six months, and he thought the presentation went well.

"You never know," Davis said. "As I've said all along, Oakland is still the place that we wanted to be and we'll just see what happens."

The city of San Diego had its chance to speak to the NFL on Monday, making a presentation in front of the league's Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities. Then the city and county unveiled updated plans for a new $1.1 billion stadium that were criticized by the Chargers.

Eric Grubman, the NFL's point man on relocation, said the city's proposal "evidenced a significant amount of progress," but the committee still had several questions about possible risks and threats. The Chargers have expressed concerns about an environmental study collapsing in court.

"Those questions remain open," Grubman said. "They are working on responses and how to mitigate those risks."