City Of Los Angeles News & Rumors

Latest On NFL’s Los Angeles Relocation

June 28th, 2015 at 6:36pm CST by Dallas Robinson

In yesterday’s San Diego Union-Tribune, the newspaper’s editorial board added a bit of intrigue to the NFL’s plans for relocating a team to Los Angeles. Referencing an owner’s meeting scheduled for August, the board writes speculation has arisen that the owners may vote the entire process back by one year, allowing the situations in San Diego, St. Louis, and Oakland to “percolate.”

For his part, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk isn’t entirely buying said speculation, going as far as to opine that the Union-Tribune, which has a vested interest in seeing San Diego retain an NFL team, could have simply “conjured” the news. Either way, such a delay in the process would have negative consequences for San Diego, writes Florio. A scenario could exist where the Raiders and Rams both move to L.A. and the Chargers stay in San Diego; such moves would obviously be a negative for the Chargers, as they’d have to compete financially with two teams in their area.

Albert Breer of NFL.com (Twitter link) has heard rumors of a different scenario, one where the Rams move to Los Angeles for the 2016 season, while the second spot in Inglewood remains open (for how long is not known) so that the Chargers and Raiders maintain leverage. In a second tweet, Breer says that situation could get more complicated if the city of St. Louis is able to come up with a suitable financing plan for a new stadium.

We heard on Friday that the league is exploring temporary venues in L.A. in the event that a club moves to Southern California for the 2016 season.

Sunday Roundup: Chargers, Kalil, Pryor

June 28th, 2015 at 12:37pm CST by Rory Parks

As the stadium saga in Los Angeles continues to unfold, more and more speculative pieces are written in an effort to uncover the intentions of the primary players in the drama and to predict how the league’s landscape will be altered within the next couple of years. Matt Calkins of The San Diego Union-Tribune, for instance, writes that Chargers counsel Michael Fabiani, whose negotiating tactics have made him widely-loathed by Chargers fans and San Diego officials, has a method to his madness.

As Calkins writes, the NFL does not really care which team or teams end up in Los Angeles, as long as it is satisfied that whatever arrangement ultimately unfolds maximizes the league’s profits. So if Rams owner Stan Kroenke ends up moving his team to LA, and stadium negotiations are going well in San Diego but poorly in Oakland, the league may decide that the Raiders should join the Rams in LA, leaving the Chargers with no leverage in its talks with San Diego.

Therefore, it is important for Fabiani that discussions with the city not go too well at the moment, even if it makes him appear arrogant and diabolical. And if the team ends up staying in San Diego, it is likely that most Chargers fans would be willing to forgive and forget.

Now let’s have a look at some links from around the league:

Speaking of the Los Angeles dilemma, David Garrick of The San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the Chargers, who have made nine unsuccessful relocation proposals across San Diego County since 2003, have ostensibly met the league’s relocation criteria of exhausting all local options, which gives the team a strong argument in support of its potential move to LA. However, that argument may not have as much weight as the Chargers hope, as critics of the move say that “many of the stadium proposals were flimsy, the time period included the worst recession in 70 years and public support for a stadium had been poisoned by the infamous Chargers ‘ticket guarantee’ at Qualcomm stadium.”
Matt Kalil will get every chance to keep his starting left tackle job in 2015, but as Ben Goessling of ESPN.com writes, if Kalil is fully healthy this year yet continues to struggle, the Vikings will have a hard time bringing him back at his $11.1MM option figure.
Even though Terrelle Pryor has stated his intention to move from quarterback to wide receiver, and even though the Browns explicitly stated that Pryor would try out for the team as a wide receiver, Tony Grossi of ESPNCleveland.com believes that we will see Pryor under center at some point in training camp. Grossi notes, however, that he is only expressing an opinion and has not heard anything to that effect from the organization.
John Keim of ESPN.com believes that Logan Paulsen will likely make Washington‘s final roster, as he is the best blocking tight end on the team and therefore serves as a nice complement to Niles Paul. However, Keim writes that Washington remains interested in adding to its tight end corps.
Ryan O’Halloran of The Florida Times-Union projects playing time for each of the Jaguars newcomers on defense and wonders if time has already run out on receiver Bryan Walters. Walters was signed as a free agent in March, but missed most of the team’s OTAs due to a hamstring injury. His best chance to make the team is by winning the punt return job over Ace Sanders and Tandon Doss, but without a long resume to lean on, he needs to be on the field.

Extra Points: Tunsil, L.A., Jags, Sam

June 27th, 2015 at 4:39pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are some items from across the NFL lexicon on Saturday afternoon.

Oxford, Miss., police arrested potential top-5 2016 draftee Laremy Tunsil after the star Ole Miss offensive tackle punched his stepfather, reports ESPN.com’s Brett McMurphy. The tackle, who as of now is projected by ESPN’s Todd McShay to go fourth next year, turned himself in. “We can confirm that Laremy Tunsil turned himself in and was arrested for a misdemeanor, domestic violence-simple assault,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said in a statement. “The incident occurred Thursday night and involves Laremy defending his mother against his stepfather.” A source close to the situation told McMurphy that Tunsil’s stepfather punched his mother and the Rebels junior retaliated.
After reports surfaced Friday that the now-well-traveled Michael Sam resurfaced with the Montreal Alouettes, the former Rams draft choice confirmed this today on his Twitter account. The defensive end missed two weeks of time with the CFL club that’s now 0-1.
In light of the scathing indictment of the Oakland stadium proposal our own Ben Levine relayed earlier today, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk suspects this could further complicate matters in the Los Angeles-in-2016 derby.
Even after No. 3 overall selection Dante Fowler Jr.‘s ACL tear, four Jaguars rookies will see major time this season, writes Steven Ruiz of USA Today. T.J. Yeldon, A.J. Cann, James Sample and Michael Bennett, taken in the second, third, fourth and sixth rounds, respectively, are set for “significant” playing time this season. Bennett would look to compete for depth behind starters Sen’Derrick Marks and Jared Odrick, while Sample will tussle with Sergio Brown at free safety.
The Packers will begin ex-Michigan linebacker Jake Ryan on the inside in their 3-4 scheme, reports Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. A fourth-round pick, Ryan played on the strong side for three seasons with the Wolverines, before moving to the middle as a senior.
Veteran Andre Fluellen has around a 30% chance of making the Bills‘ 53-man roster, opines ESPN.com’s Mike Rodak. Although the Bills used a four-man line during minicamp, they are expected to use plenty of 3-4 concepts, where Fluellen would slot at end instead of the inside spot he played with the Lions.

Latest on Raiders Stadium Situation

June 27th, 2015 at 11:28am CST by Ben Levine

The Raiders might be one step closer to moving to Los Angeles, especially following the release of the financing plan for a new Oakland stadium. As Matthew Artz of the Bay Area News group writes, the proposed plan is so egregious, it would incentivize a move to another city.

The plan, submitted by businessman Floyd Kephart, would require the Raiders to sell 20-percent of the team to Kephart’s New City Development, LLC for $200MM. The company would subsequently develop the area around the stadium, including the construction of a shopping center, hotels, offices and 4,000 homes.

On top of that, the Raiders (along with money from the NFL and funds from future stadium revenues) would be responsible for financing the $900MM stadium, meaning the Raiders would have to rely on sponsorship revenue and naming rights fees to compensate for the nearly $300MM in potential loans.

As Artz explains, it’s not an easy task for Kephart, who helped rescue the project in 2014 after other developers dropped out. He has to obviously appease the franchise, which is a difficult task considering their interest in Los Angeles. Furthermore, he has to satisfy the local officials who refuse to help pay for a new stadium.

“This is not just the worst stadium proposal I’ve seen,” Marc Ganis, president of the consulting firm SportsCorp Ltd., told Artz. “It’s the worst by far.

“I can’t think of any sports team owner that would take a proposal like this even remotely seriously. It’s so one-sided and so bad, that it’s almost as if local leaders are saying ‘we can’t really do anything, so go ahead and leave.'”

As Robert Boland, a sports business professor at New York University explained, it’s unprecedented for a team to self-fund a stadium, especially when they’re also being required to sell a percentage of the franchise.

“This does create a scenario by which Los Angeles becomes more attractive,” he said.

The City Council is scheduled to discuss the proposal on Tuesday. If it’s ultimately accepted, the city would begin negotiations with the franchise regarding a new stadium, with an eye towards starting construction in 2020.

Raiders ownership has continually said that they’d prefer to stay in Oakland.

“We’ve been working on a stadium in Oakland for the past at least six years, on a very strong basis,” owner Mark Davis told Raiders.com last month. “We definitely want to keep the Raiders in Oakland, if possible, and have made as much as we can trying with the city, the county and the Oakland A’s and the Raiders, trying to work something out, to figure it out, how we can get it done.”

NFL Exploring Temporary L.A. Venues

June 26th, 2015 at 1:59pm CST by Luke Adams

1:59pm: A league source tells Albert Breer and Steve Wyche of NFL.com that the NFL has discussed the possibility of Dodger Stadium, Angel Stadium of Anaheim, or the StubHub Center serving as a temporary venue for a Los Angeles franchise. The duo also confirms that the league submitted requests to the Rose Bowl and the Coliseum.

The league’s goal is to negotiate with venues in the coming months, and perhaps to select a site and have it ready even before an NFL team officially announces its intent to relocate. As Breer and Wyche observe, two temporary stadiums may be necessary if two NFL teams move to L.A.

8:57am: The NFL is moving forward on preparing for a possible relocation to Los Angeles for the 2016 season, according to Sam Farmer of Los Angeles Times, who reports that the league has begun issuing proposal requests to venues in Southern California. These venues, including the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl, would be potential temporary homes for any club that moved to L.A., as construction took place on a new stadium.

“It is part of the process and an effort to understand all of our options and have a well thought out plan if a team or teams were to be approved to relocate,” said Chris Hardart, the NFL’s vice preisdent of corporate development. Hardart declined to identify any other potential venues besides the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl, though Farmer notes that league executives have previously cited Dodger Stadium as another possible temporary solution.

The NFL has a special meeting on its schedule for August 11 in Chicago to update team owners on the Los Angeles situation. Per Farmer, the league wants to know which temporary L.A. venues are in play – and what their capabilities and limitations are – before that August meeting takes place.

As Farmer points out, while the NFL has flirted with the idea of moving a team back to Los Angeles multiple times over the last two decades, the league has never gone so far as to commit to a temporary venue in the L.A. area. If things continue to move forward, that could happen at some point this fall, in advance of a team (or teams) gaining approval for relocation.

West Notes: Chargers, Raiders, 49ers

June 24th, 2015 at 5:58pm CST by Zachary Links

Rams running back Tre Mason admits that he wasn’t thrilled to learn about the Rams’ selection of Todd Gurley in this year’s draft.

“I was in shock, really, because I thought I did a good job last year,’’ said Mason, according to Joe Lyons of the Post-Dispatch. “At that time, with a pick like that, it’s a replacement.’’

Mason, who tied for the team lead in touchdowns last season as a rookie, eventually shook that off and focused on doing the best that he can, regardless of who else is there at his position. Of course, it’s not a given that Gurley will be healthy, so the opportunities could still be there for Mason in 2015. Here’s more out of the West divisions..

The city of Carson, California held a town hall meeting on Monday night to discuss the proposed stadium that would house both the Chargers and the Raiders. However, Carmen Policy, the man by the two teams to spearhead the effort, was not present for it, and neither were the Raiders, as Carson mayor Albert Robles told XTRA 1360 in San Diego. “My understanding is that Carmen was supposed to be there, but he missed his flight and was not able to make it,” Robles said (transcription via Mike Florio of PFT). “And it was supposed to be his presentation, and I tried to wing it as best as I could. But Mr. Policy did apologize, he did convey his regrets, he said that he would make up for it.” The Raiders’ absence is particularly interesting as the team is considering a financial plan that could make a new stadium in Oakland viable for them.
If the Chargers are leaving town, then owner Dean Spanos owes it to the city of San Diego to come clean, Nick Canepa of U-T San Diego writes. While it would be tough for local Bolts fans to hear that their team is skipping town, that bit of honesty would at least end the figurative torture for SD residents. Canepa wonders if Spanos’ silence goes beyond a PR ploy. He suspects that the owner could simply be using stall tactics to find out of the league will be ready to put a team (or teams) in Los Angeles in 2016.
Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com assessed the 49ers‘ offseason and gave them a less-than-stellar grade of a C-minus. Things obviously haven’t gone San Francisco’s way this offseason with Anthony Davis, Justin Smith, Chris Borland, and Patrick Willis all retiring. On top of that, NaVorro Bowman is attempting to come back from knee surgery and Ahmad Brooks could be on his way out if charges are pressed against him. And, while it hasn’t gotten as much attention as the mass retirements, SF also took a risk by trading away punter Andy Lee, who is an all-time great at his position. On a positive note, Gutierrez gives the Niners credit for adding deep threat receiver Torrey Smith on a five-year, $40MM pact ($22MM guaranteed).

Stadium Updates: Tuesday

June 23rd, 2015 at 2:59pm CST by Luke Adams

PFR’s Zach Links passed along the latest updates last night on stadium talks for the Raiders and Chargers, two candidates to relocate to Los Angeles in 2016. While things have been quiet – at least by comparison – on the St. Louis front recently, Oakland and San Diego remain in the news today. Let’s check in on today’s stadium-related items:

Today’s meeting between NFL officials and San Diego’s top stadium negotiator – detailed below – went well, with the two sides planning on scheduling a follow-up meeting for late July, Garrick writes for the Union-Tribune. Per Garrick, the conversation today was a more general discussion about the city’s stadium proposal, rather than focusing on getting the Chargers back to the negotiating table.

Earlier updates:

Real estate developer Floyd Kephart met Monday’s deadline to send details of his plan for a new Raiders stadium to the city of Oakland and Alameda County, and now officials will have 20 business days to accept, reject, or ask Kephart for clarifications on his proposal. As Bill Williamson of ESPN.com writes, Kephart feels good about the plan, and hopes to get feedback by next week. Land, infrastructure cost, and debt-transfer issues are the biggest potential roadblocks to overcome for the project, says Williamson.
Kephart on his stadium plan, via Williamson: “I think we delivered a good product. If we can get a little bit of movement from the city and county at this stage and a little bit of movement from the Raiders at the next stage, we can get a deal. It’s not nearly as complicated as what’s going on in San Diego.”
Speaking of San Diego, mayor Kevin Faulconer spoke to commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday about his city’s efforts to build a new Chargers stadium, according to David Garrick of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Faulconer spokesman Matt Awbrey indicated that the conversation lasted 45 minutes, adding that the city’s top negotiator, Chris Melvin, is scheduled to meet with NFL officials today to explain San Diego’s position on environmental approvals and a public vote.

Latest On Possible Move For Raiders, Chargers

June 22nd, 2015 at 7:03pm CST by Zachary Links

Oakland Athletics owner Lew Wolff wants to build a new stadium for his MLB team at the site of the current Coliseum, but isn’t particularly interested in sharing that new stadium with the Raiders, as John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group details.

“We have thoroughly investigated things,” Wolff said. “And there is no good way to put two brand-new venues at the Coliseum site. If the Raiders are going to be there, then I don’t know what will happen. We’ll have to sit down with (baseball commissioner) Rob (Manfred) and see what to do..I think it’s really important from our perspective, the A’s and baseball, the city focus on the need to get something done with regards to baseball. Not to the detriment of football, but the need to get something done with baseball.”

Well, as it turns out, the city of Oakland just might have a financing plan to satisfy the Raiders’ needs while chasing the A’s away, as Matthew Artz of the Bay Area News Group writes. San Diego-based businessman Floyd Kephart submitted a report to top city officials earlier today which could be key to making the Coliseum site viable for future use. The NFL is demanding that Oakland produce a workable stadium plan for the Raiders by the end of this year or risk losing the team.

As Oakland officials fight to retain their team, the city of San Diego is also working to keep the Chargers away from Los Angeles. As Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (Twitter links) details, Chargers fans have asked SD attorney Jan Goldsmith for anti-trust suit against team for failure to show “good faith.” Chargers counsel Mark Fabiani, however, doesn’t sound fazed by the threat (link). Fabiani told Cole that the Bolts’ lease “explicitly precludes lawsuits by the city against the team or the NFL in the event of relocation” making the threat of the suit “a crazy idea.”

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Latest On Chargers’ Possible Relocation

June 18th, 2015 at 5:43pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The 2015 season may be the last one in San Diego for the Chargers, who are free to break their lease thereafter and head elsewhere – likely to Carson, Calif. If you’re to believe Jason Roe, the spokesman for San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, the franchise’s future in the city it has called home since 1961 looks as bleak as it ever has.

Roe on Wednesday released an acerbic statement accusing the Chargers of never intending to bargain with the city, tweeted Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole.

“The truth is, [the Chargers] were never at the table. They’ve misled the fans and our elected officials and civic leaders by saying they wanted to remain in San Diego when in fact they initiated the process of relocation to LA a year ago,” Roe said.

Roe went on to state that the Chargers haven’t worked “toward a solution but instead put up phony roadblocks to success.”

Chargers counsel Mark Fabiani fired back at Roe, per Cole (via Twitter).

“The Chargers will never be part of the city’s legally dubious effort to deal with the California Environmental Quality Act,” Fabiani stated. “City officials are of course free to drive themselves off the cliff into legal oblivion with a half-baked Environmental Impact Report, but the team has no intention of hitching itself to the city’s misguided, doomed scheme.”

When asked about potentially building a new stadium in San Diego, Fabiani said Tuesday (according to the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Nick Canepa), “There’s no point in doing anything until we get an EIR (environmental impact report).”

The Chargers will have to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act to get a new stadium built in San Diego, but the team declared a proposed Dec. 15 stadium vote impossible because of environmental problems, the Union-Tribune’s David Garrick wrote Wednesday.

Of course, stadium-related environmental issues in San Diego won’t matter if the Chargers are truly bent on relocating. Faulconer tweeted Wednesday that the city and team are pulling in opposite directions, with San Diego trying to retain the club and the Chargers working toward a departure.

Moreover, longtime league executive Carmen Policy – whom the Chargers and Raiders hired last month to oversee the building of a stadium in Carson – told Sirius XM NFL Radio on Thursday (Twitter link) that both teams “are totally committed to the Carson project and the site is shovel ready.”

Policy also stated (Twitter link) that the goal of both the league and LA is to land two teams.

AFC West Notes: Houston, Thomas, Weddle, L.A.

June 12th, 2015 at 8:30pm CST by Rob DiRe

The Chiefs will open their three-day mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, but will likely do so without star pass rusher Justin Houston, writes Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star. Head coach Andy Reid was asked whether he expected to see Houston next week. “He probably won’t be,” said Reid. “We just move on. I don’t really get caught up in all that stuff.”

Here are some other notes from around the AFC West:

Peyton Manning lost tight end Julius Thomas and slot receiver Wes Welker, but is still looking to make another deep playoff run this season. However, he is unhappy that Demaryius Thomas has not received a new deal yet, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. While installing a new offense under Gary Kubiak and Rick Dennison, every day Thomas misses he falls behind on learning the offense.
Eric Weddle is another player who hasn’t been at team facilities amidst a contract dispute, and general manager Tom Telesco offered his thoughts on The Mighty 1090 in San Diego. Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com transcribed part of the conversation. “We said before the draft that we would talk after the draft. And we did. And we talked multiple times. We listened to their concerns about his current contract. We listened to their complaints about playing too much. And we read through their statistical analysis and their financial comparisons,” said Telesco. “We went through all of that stuff. We just decided that we’re just not at their numbers right now. It’s really as simple as that. There’s no sinister agenda there, nothing like that. Just right now it’s not there.”
The Rose Bowl and Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum have both emerged as possibilities to become temporary homes for any NFL team that agrees to move to Los Angeles, writes Brent Schrotenboer of USA Today. The league will soon discuss plans for temporary housing for teams to move to City of Angels ahead of a new stadium being built, and both the Chargers and Raiders are top candidates to relocate.

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