The latest from the NFL’s two West divisions:
- On Friday, the Board of Aldermen in St. Louis will approve a financing package for a $1.1 billion riverfront stadium for the Rams, according to David Hunn of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.. The package counts on $300MM coming from the NFL, which is a problem: Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a letter to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and his stadium task force that the league only funds up to $200MM on new stadiums. Goodell referred to the notion of the league putting $300MM toward a stadium in St. Louis as “fundamentally inconsistent with the NFL’s program of stadium financing.” In response, downtown Alderman Jack Coatar said, “We are not changing this bill. “We are passing the bill as is tomorrow. We have the votes and we’re moving forward.” Coatar added that the proposed amount is “what we’re willing to spend.”
- Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning has been out since mid-November with a plantar fascia injury, but his father, Archie, told WDSU-TV in New Orleans that Manning has been dealing with it “for five or six months,” per Lionel Bienvenu of KMGH ABC-7 in Denver. Archie also stated that Peyton is unsure whether he’ll return in 2016, his age-40 campaign, and will decide after this season ends.
- Unlike Manning, Chargers punter Mike Scifres expects to play again next year. “Mike doesn’t plan on retiring for many more years. … I hope when he does retire, it’ll be as a Charger,” his agent, Harold Lewis, said, per Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Scifres, who currently ranks 20th in the league in yards per punt and 30th in net yardage, has been with the Chargers since they drafted him in 2003. He’s set to count over $4MM against their cap next season, though, and cutting him would save the Bolts upward of $3.5MM.