City Of Los Angeles - Pro Football Rumors

Chargers, Rams, Raiders Apply For Los Angeles Relocation

January 4th, 2016 at 9:19pm CST by Zachary Links

The Chargers, Raiders, and Rams have all filed their applications to relocate to Los Angeles, according to a press release from the NFL. Today was the first day that teams were allowed to formally submit their applications.

“We have tried for more than 14 years, through nine separate proposals and seven different mayors, to create a world-class stadium experience for fans in San Diego. Despite these efforts, there is still no certain, actionable solution to the stadium problem. We are sad to have reached this point,” the Chargers said in a statement.

Now, all three teams and their respective cities will wait to see what happens when NFL owners convene in Houston on January 12-13.

San Diego’s latest proposal called for $350MM in funding to come from the city, but a public vote to OK that measure isn’t slated to take place until June. Of course, with the owners meetings happening in a little over a week, that was not a suitable timeline for the Bolts or the NFL. The San Diego plan suggested that a new stadium would cost $1.1 billion in total with $200MM from the NFL, $363MM from the Chargers, and personal seat license sales accounting for $187MM. That plan will have no chance of coming to fruition, of course, if the league greenlights the Chargers L.A. move.

Months ago, the Raiders and the Chargers teamed up on a proposal that would have put both teams in a shared, $1.7 billion stadium in the city of Carson, California. Meanwhile, Rams owner Stan Kroenke has appeared hellbent on moving his team to a proposed site in Inglewood. As of late, some NFL owners have been looking to break up the Raiders/Chargers partnership and instead marry off the Chargers and Rams in Los Angeles.

The Rams and Raiders each issued two-sentence statements which didn’t provide much in the way of detail.

Sunday Roundup: Mularkey, Gase, McDaniels

January 3rd, 2016 at 1:13pm CST by Rory Parks

As we roll into the final week of the regular season, let’s round up some news and notes from around the league:

We learned earlier today that Titans interim head coach Mike Mularkey will receive serious consideration to be the team’s permanent head coach, and Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports explains that although there are aspects of the Tennessee top job that make it appealing, questions about ownership could force some big name candidates to steer clear. If Mularkey does get the job, Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com (via Twitter) expects the team to make changes to the rest of its coaching staff.
La Canfora was busy on Twitter this afternoon, reporting that the Browns, Dolphins, and Eagles all have serious interest in making Bears OC Adam Gase their next head coach, and that the Titans and Giants head coaching jobs would be the most appealing to Patriots OC Josh McDaniels (Twitter links).
La Canfora also tweets that Mike Holmgren‘s reported interest in the 49ers‘ head coaching position should not be discounted, though he also tweets that San Francisco will give strong consideration to Chip Kelly if and when Jim Tomsula is fired. Mike Silver of NFL.com tweets that Kelly himself has reached out to express his interest in the job, along with Mike Shanahan. As Silver notes (via Twitter) the 49ers’ head coaching job is much more appealing than is commonly perceived.
Jenna Laine of SportsTalkFlorida.com tweets that Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter has received interest from at least one club looking for a new head coach.
Hall-of-Fame executive Ron Wolf had lunch with Browns owner Jimmy Haslam several weeks ago, but per Tony Grossi of ESPNCleveland.com, Wolf denied that Haslam asked him to serve as a consultant for the club. Wolf said he has had no contact with Haslam since that lunch. Wolf’s son, Eliot, currently works as the Packers‘ director of player personnel and is rumored to be Cleveland’s top choice to fill its soon-to-be-vacant GM role.
Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Kevin Patra of NFL.com) writes that the Raiders, Chargers, and Rams will all apply for relocation in advance of Monday’s deadline, with the expected relocation fee to be a whopping $550MM per team that relocates. The league will assist whatever club or clubs that get left out of the LA sweepstakes to secure a new home.

Latest On Chargers’ Los Angeles Pursuit

January 2nd, 2016 at 4:14pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Chargers and San Diego may be on incompatible timelines.

A looming June 2016 election will have a significant impact on whether San Diego can invest in a new stadium, but the Los Angeles relocation matter may be decided by then, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports.

San Diego’s latest proposal hinges on $350MM coming from the city, but a public vote scheduled for June will determine whether that money is available. The league’s relocation meeting comes in less than two weeks.

Funding for a prospective new Chargers venue costing upwards of $1.1 billion would, per this plan, come from the NFL providing $200MM, the Chargers paying $363MM and personal seat license sales accounting for $187MM.

As Florio notes, in the unlikely event the Chargers decide to wait on this vote passing, the measure failing to do so could well mean the Chargers would be shut out of the Los Angeles race and forced to remain in their near-50-year-old stadium. But with the Chargers very much in the LA pursuit, such passivity would be unexpected.

Rams owner Stan Kroenke is reportedly pushing for a one-year delay in this derby in hopes of this June vote showing the Chargers have a more viable stadium plan than the Rams do in St. Louis, Florio offers. St. Louis, however, appears further along than San Diego or Oakland in its stadium efforts.

The Chargers not waiting and securing approval to relocate Jan. 13 would mean San Diego would be voting on the above legislation to lure another team to the city.

Cole’s Latest: Chip Kelly, Los Angeles, Colts

December 30th, 2015 at 12:34pm CST by Luke Adams

Jason Cole of Bleacher Report has provided updates on a handful of notable stories, so let’s dive in and round up the highlights from his latest video reports….

Chip Kelly has interest in the Titans‘ head coaching job and believes he should have opportunities around the league, possibly in Tennessee, Cleveland, or Miami, sources tells Cole (video link).
About half of the NFL’s team owners – members of the Los Angeles committee, the finance committee, and the stadium committee – are scheduled to meet next week at the league’s New York offices to discuss possible relocation to L.A., according to Cole (video link). The Bleacher Report scribe hears that there’s a consensus building among owners that the Chargers are the favorite to get approval to relocate, but those owners remain unsure about what to do with the Rams and Raiders.
With the Colts potentially preparing to move on from head coach Chuck Pagano, there are those in the organization who wonder whether Andrew Luck will have a strong opinion on who the team’s next head coach will be, says Cole (video link). Luck is entering the final year of his contract with the club, so as he considers signing a long-term extension with Indianapolis, it makes sense that he’d want to have some input on who will be coaching him.

Latest On Los Angeles Relocation

December 29th, 2015 at 2:44pm CST by Zachary Links

Oakland has until Wednesday to present the NFL with a financing plan to give the Raiders a new stadium, but city officials say that no plan is forthcoming, Rachel Swan of The San Francisco Chronicle writes. Instead, Oakland will send a letter to league officials simply updating them on the city’s efforts to persuade the Raiders to stay in town. The NFL has been looking to pressure Oakland (as well as St. Louis and San Diego) into coughing up tax dollars to finance new stadiums, but right now it looks like Oakland is not willing to play ball.

Here’s more on the Raiders, Chargers, Rams, and Los Angeles:

A decision on Los Angeles will happen within the month of January, an NFL source tells Vincent Bonsignore of the Daily News (on Twitter). A path to the 24 votes needed to relocate a team, he adds, will happen one way or another.
The St. Louis Stadium Task Force announced that it has submitted its official proposal to the NFL today, a day ahead of the deadline to file, as Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com tweets. The proposal calls for the Rams to contribute “no less than $250MM to the project, with the NFL investing $300MM.” Meanwhile, the plan calls for the city and state to invest $400MM through “traditional public funding sources.” The local stadium authority would work with the Rams to design a stadium that would include PSLs. The proposal calls for the Rams to hold a 30-year lease to go along with an “enforceable non-relocation agreement.” The plan also calls for the Rams to “accommodate a MLS tenant under a market rate lease term.” The total cost of the project? – a cool $1.1 billion.

Latest On Los Angeles Relocation

December 24th, 2015 at 1:57pm CST by Sam Robinson

Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf is exuding confidence as the league’s relocation vote nears, telling Raiders fans to “keep the faith” and noting that owner Mark Davis wants to stay in Oakland, according to a Bay Area News Group report.

The city and the Raiders have not generated a functional stadium plan yet, but Oakland will present its next proposal to the league on Dec. 29 or Dec. 30, the News Group’s report indicates. Although the league is not expecting a final proposal at that time.

The Raiders’ Los Angeles relocation proposal is expected to be heard by the NFL on Jan. 12 or Jan. 13.

Schaaf indicated she’s committed to keeping the Raiders in Oakland in a feasible way for taxpayers. While the mayor said the city won’t help the Raiders directly pay to build a new stadium, it will make payments for infrastructure enhancements on the 120-acre Coliseum site set to be publicly owned.

“We won’t put any public funds at risk,” Schaaf said. “… We have two things that no other city has: a fully entitled site and a team ownership that consistently says it wants to make it work in Oakland.”

Most current reports have the Raiders lagging behind the more financially sound Chargers and Rams in the Los Angeles pursuit, but a recent report listed the Raiders-Chargers Carson proposal as the preferred relocation plan of the Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities — the six-owner coalition with the most sway on this matter.

Here are some more updates on the Western-division teams’ pursuit of an LA move.

Oakland and the Raiders are engaging in frequent talks, but with nothing imminent, the city may be in need of the NFL voting down the Raiders’ relocation effort to create more substantive stadium negotiations, Matthew Artz of the Bay Area News Group reports. “We have to play this out,” Oakland Assistant City Administrator Claudia Cappio told Artz. “If the vote is not in their favor for Los Angeles, we come to the table with different leverage and needs, and I think we can begin to have talks in a different way.” The Rams are seen as having best plan from a funding standpoint, with the Chargers holding the most trust from the owners, Ohio University sports business professor Robert Boland told Artz. “Keeping the Raiders in Oakland is probably the least-difficult scenario for the NFL,” Boland said. Only four teams — the Packers, Bears, Saints and Bills — sport a stadium older than the Raiders’, which opened in 1966.
San Diego runs a greater risk of losing its team and now is contending with millions being lost in the mere research for a potential stadium site, Jeff McDonald of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The city’s spent $1.6MM in research for the Mission Valley site. However, $2.35MM has been set aside for such expenditures, as the team prepares to potentially play its final two games as the San Diego Chargers. Should the Chargers leave for Los Angeles, the aforementioned research could be used to woo another team in the future. “Regardless of what ultimately happens with the NFL, this environmental impact report is valuable to taxpayers,” Craig Gustafson, a spokesman for mayor Kevin Faulconer, told McDonald. “The environmental studies and analysis in the report can be used for a new NFL stadium, demolishing the current stadium or other future projects on the site.”

Extra Points: Draft, Rams, Chargers, LA

December 22nd, 2015 at 9:53pm CST by Dallas Robinson

After recently taking a tumble from a hotel window, Mississippi defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche has been suspended for his team’s upcoming bowl game, Daniel Paulling and Hugh Kellenberger of The Clarion-Ledger report. It’s not all bad news for Ndemkiche, however, as the junior announced that he’s forgoing his senior season to enter the NFL draft. Once a projected first-round pick, it’s unclear how recent off-field issues will affect his stock.

Here’s more from around the league…

Another underclassmen, Rutgers linebacker Steve Longa, is also throwing his hat in the draft ring, as he tells Dan Duggan of NJ.com. Longa, who has posted three consecutive 100-tackle seasons, says he did receive information on his draft stock from the league’s advisory board, but declined to share those specifics.
Ground has been broken at Hollywood Park in California, and now the only question is whether the Rams will move west, as Sam Farmer and Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times write. Rams owner Stan Kroenke, who is building the arena, plans to move ahead with its construction regardless of his club’s status. NFL owners are expected to meet in mid-January, and could vote to approve the project.
League sources tell Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune that neither LA plan – the Rams in Inglewood or the Raiders/Chargers in Carson – has enough owner support to pass, but each could get enough anti-votes to ensure that it does not get approved. An extra year in San Diego, write Acee, could be exactly what the Chargers need in order to make their case to stay in the area long-term.

West Rumors: Chargers, Raiders, Manning, Tomsula

December 21st, 2015 at 9:50pm CST by Sam Robinson

With the Cardinals and Seahawks having traded places in the standings from last season’s playoff bracket, the NFC West has been settled. The AFC West, suddenly, hasn’t, as the Chiefs are now one game back of the reeling Broncos and hold the tiebreaker.

Here’s what’s developing out of the Western teams’ locales as Week 15 concludes.

Between six and 14 owners have yet to decide which way they’ll vote on the relocation issue in January, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. The majority of the six owners who comprise the Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities, however, are behind the Chargers‘ and Raiders‘ Carson-based project, and their opinion will have the most sway among the 32 voters, Acee offers. San Diego, in the NFL’s opinion, being unlikely to approve public funding to be allocated toward a new Chargers stadium provides a significant stumbling block in the city’s efforts to retain the team.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio wonders if the Raiders, who have expressed no desire to replace the Rams in St. Louis, would consider a San Diego relocation if the city became serious about financing a new stadium. With the Chargers, in Florio’s view, not being inclined to wait on the city to decide on a stadium solution in order to find a more-lucrative landing spot in Los Angeles, the city won’t merely shut down football operations. Like Baltimore and St. Louis after the cities lost their teams in 1984 and 1988, respectively, Florio expects San Diego to keep pushing to land a team if the Chargers depart.
Gary Kubiak is open to Peyton Manning returning next week at less than 100%, Troy Renck of the Denver Post reports. “Absolutely. We are trying to work him back to where he feels like he can go play, and go be himself,” Kubiak said. “That’s been the plan all along but we are not there yet.” The first-year Broncos coach’s view of Manning’s health led him to maintain the status quo of Brock Osweiler atop the depth chart going into this week’s practices. Osweiler failed to lead the Broncos to any second-half points in their past three games.
49ers first-year coach Jim Tomsula appears to be safe, with the team in full-on rebuilding mode, after a rocky debut, Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com writes. Although owner Jed York told media, “We’ll talk about everything at the end of the season,” CBS sideline reporter Jay Feely‘s conversation with 49ers COO Al Guido can be interpreted as the 49ers showing faith in Tomsula’s process. “They knew what they were getting into when they had all the defections,” Feely said, describing Guido’s view of the offseason chaos that consumed the team. “(Guido) said they underestimated a little bit the impact that it had in the locker room, specifically the lack of leadership. . . But I think they’re confident with Jim Tomsula going forward.”

Sunday Roundup: Cowboys, RGIII, Pagano

December 20th, 2015 at 12:52pm CST by Rory Parks

Let’s take a look at some links from around the league while waiting for the murky playoff picture to begin to sort itself out:

Although Kellen Moore did not exactly set the world ablaze in the Cowboys‘ loss to the Jets last night, he nearly helped his team to an upset victory and demonstrated that he is a better option than Matt Cassel moving forward. However, as ESPN’s Todd Archer writes, head coach Jason Garrett is as yet unwilling to name Moore the starter for the final two games of the season. The Cowboys will need to address the backup quarterback situation behind Tony Romo next year, and it makes sense for the club to at least see what it has in Moore.
Last night’s loss officially eliminated the Cowboys from playoff contention, so owner Jerry Jones expects the team to put Romo on injured reserve, according to Charen Williams of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Twitter).
Washington has made it clear that it is ready to move on from Robert Griffin III, but Ian Rapoport (article via Conor Orr of NFL.com) identifies a number of teams that may be interested in RGIII. That list includes the Cowboys, Eagles, Texans, and Saints (or whichever team happens to employ Sean Payton).
While Chuck Pagano‘s future in Indianapolis is still very much up in the air, if the Colts do decide to part ways with him, Rapoport says that he would immediately become one of the most sought-after head coaching candidates in the league. Although Pagano has previously said the Colts job would be his last coaching gig, there will apparently be no shortage of teams trying to change his mind.
Although things could change in the next several weeks, Mark Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com suggests that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is growing increasingly weary of his team’s performance and could be leaning towards a “clean sweep” that would see both head coach Mike Pettine and GM Ray Farmer lose their jobs. We had previously heard that one of Farmer or Pettine would be fired, but not both.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says the NFL-to-Los Angeles process is getting uglier by the minute, with “members of the league’s Los Angeles committee making promises to St. Louis in an effort to keep the Rams there and publicly trashing San Diego in an effort to get the Chargers out.” Florio suggests one way to placate all parties involved may be to have Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Rams owner Stan Kroenke swap their franchises, much like the Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams were swapped in 1972. The entire article is worth reading, and although Florio concedes it is something of an outlandish idea, he suggests it could gain traction as we get closer to the critical owners meetings in January. Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, however, was quick to throw cold water on that notion (via Twitter).
According to Rapoport (via Twitter) Leonard Hankerson, who was claimed by the Patriots this week, was released by the Falcons off the injured reserve list when he told Atlanta that he was healthy and wanted to be cut. The Falcons obliged, and now Hankerson is suited up for New England this afternoon.
Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com looks at the 2016 class of free agent cornerbacks.

Latest On Potential St. Louis Stadium

December 18th, 2015 at 6:44pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Board of Aldermen in St. Louis granted approval Friday for the city to fund up to $150MM on the construction of a new stadium worth $1.1 billion, Nicholas J.C. Pistor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

In response, the Gov. Jay Nixon-led St. Louis stadium task force issued a statement, saying, “We recognize that our proposal will require extensive review before it is considered for approval by the NFL. We are confident that it will be well received.”

The task force also called Friday’s vote a “significant milestone,” but Rams owner Stan Kroenke and the NFL will have more say than the city in whether the proposed stadium is built. As was reported Thursday, the financing package for the new facility counts on $300MM from the league, whose policy is to spend a maximum of $200MM on stadiums. Commissioner Roger Goodell referred to funding a St. Louis stadium to the tune of $300MM as “fundamentally inconsistent with the NFL’s program of stadium financing.”

If the league isn’t a big enough hurdle for St. Louis to keep its team, the city also has to contend with Kroenke’s desire to relocate to Los Angeles. As Pistor notes, Kroenke hasn’t shown interest in staying in St. Louis and would have to agree to the proposed financing package to keep the franchise there.

Regarding Kroenke, Alderman Sharon Tyus quipped, “We’re like at the strip club…and the stripper is throwing the money back at us.”

One of Tyus’ colleagues, Alderman Antonio French, hopes the result of Friday’s vote shows a “good faith effort to hopefully sway a few votes to prevent Koenke” from moving the team. That might happen, according to Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith, who writes that St. Louis’ proposal could be acceptable enough in the eyes of some owners to vote against a potential Kroenke plan to relocate the Rams. Kroenke needs 23 approval votes from his fellow owners to allow him to take his team elsewhere. That vote will take place in January.

Sam Farmer of the LA Times wrote Thursday that, of the three teams vying for LA relocation (the Raiders and Chargers being the others), St. Louis has done the most to keep its franchise. As Farmer points out, St. Louis has put a significant amount of public money on the table, and the league isn’t in the habit of turning down sizable funding from the public. Further, Kroenke isn’t particularly popular among the league’s owners, per Farmer, which could make it that much more difficult for his California dream to end up a reality.

City Of Los Angeles News & Rumors