Move To L.A.
The Oakland Raiders are the odd team out after NFL owners voted 30-2 in Houston on Jan. 12 to allow the St. Louis Rams to move to a new stadium near Los Angeles, and the San Diego Chargers will have a one-year option to share the facility in Inglewood, The Associated Press reported.
The Raiders could join the Rams in Inglewood if San Diego doesn’t, Commissioner Roger Goodell announced.
"This is not a win for the Raiders today," Raiders owner Mark Davis told reporters after the vote in Houston. “I don’t know where we’ll be. We don’t have a lease right now at the Oakland Coliseum. America, the world is a possibility for the Raider Nation.
"We’ll be working really hard to find us a home. That’s what we’re looking for, for our fans and everything else. Don’t feel bad. We’ll get it right.”
The moves end the NFL’s 21-year absence from the nation’s second-largest media market. Los Angeles has been without the NFL since after the 1994 season when the Raiders returned to Oakland and the Rams moved from Anaheim to St. Louis. The Rams had been in the L.A. area since 1946.
The compromise — the Chargers and Raiders wanted to share a new stadium in Carson, and the Rams wanted to move to nearby Inglewood — was approved after the other options did not get the 24 votes needed for approval.
Davis reportedly on Jan. 12 withdrew the Raiders' application to relocate to the Los Angeles market after the Carson option did not receive the required votes.
The Chargers can continue to negotiate with San Diego for a new stadium deal, while keeping the option of joining at the Rams and owner Stan Kroenke at the $1.8 billion complex he is building. The Chargers reportedly must notify the NFL by March if they intend to move to Los Angeles for the 2016 season.
The league will give $100 million to the Chargers and the Raiders if either team builds a new stadium in their current markets.
The Chargers play 120 miles south of Inglewood in Qualcomm Stadium. The Raiders played in Los Angeles from 1982-94 and currently split O.co Coliseum in Oakland with baseball’s Athletics, the last remaining NFL-MLB stadium.
No NFL franchise has moved since the Houston Oilers went to Tennessee in 1997.
L.A. State of Mind
Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest market, has been without the NFL since after the 1994 season when the Raiders returned to Oakland and the Rams moved from Anaheim to St. Louis. The Rams had been in the L.A. area since 1946.
The relocation moves have long been anticipated. Rams owner Stan Kroenke bought land in Los Angeles County two years ago, and announced in 2014 his plans to build a privately funded $1.9 billion stadium in Inglewood while the Chargers and Raiders have plans for a $1.8 billion facility in Carson.
The NFL confirmed Jan. 4 that it received the relocation applications to move for the 2016 season.
NFL owners will meet in Houston Jan. 12-13 and reportedly could vote on whether to allow any of the teams to move. A team wanting to move needs 24 of 32 votes.
Only one stadium plan reportedly will be approved by the owners.
The Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers and St. Louis Rams filed for relocation to the Los Angeles area on Jan. 4, 2016, the NFL announced.
