The Raiders and Chargers created an uproar Thursday when they announced joint plans to build and share a $1.7 billion, privately financed stadium 15 miles south of Los Angeles in Carson, Calif.
With the Raiders, Chargers and Rams as possible relocation candidates, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wrote Friday that commissioner Roger Goodell has a complicated situation on his hands. Florio opines that two of the three franchises will ultimately end up in L.A., while the odd club out could be pursued by the likes of St. Louis and San Antonio.
Here’s more on the league’s possible return to Los Angeles:
- Carson politicians and community leaders held a rally Friday in support of landing the Raiders and Chargers, according to ESPN’s Arash Markazi. Carson Mayor Jim Dear called the acquisition of multiple NFL teams “an enormous opportunity.”
- The Raiders’ departure from Oakland is far from a sure thing, writes Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News. Purdy takes a skeptical approach toward possible Raiders relocation and wonders if team owner Mark Davis is using Carson as leverage to get a new stadium in Oakland.
- Conversely, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports tweets that the relocation of the Raiders and Chargers to Carson “could really happen.” In another tweet, LaCanfora speculates that Rams owner Stan Kroenke would get a new stadium deal in St. Louis (plus other pot sweeteners) if his team isn’t one of the two that goes to L.A.
- Jerry McDonald of the Oakland Tribune spoke to Davis, who said Oakland is “absolutely” a possibility for the Raiders going forward. McDonald went on to tweet that the Raiders and Chargers are frustrated by a lack of progress toward new stadiums in their respective cities.
- “That’s our No. 1 priority, to stay in Oakland, always has been and will continue to be,” Davis told the San Francisco Chronicle’s Vic Tafur. One league official informed Tafur that three teams are racing for two spots in L.A. Further, the three front-runners (San Diego, Oakland and St. Louis) can all terminate their current leases and move after next season.
- If the Raiders and/or Chargers do relocate, there hasn’t been any talk of either switching from the AFC to the NFC, Tafur tweets.