11:37am: In a separate piece, La Canfora reports that former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. is in discussions with Raiders owner Mark Davis about joining Davis’ ownership group. Davis, who has been actively seeking minority partners that would inject additional capital into his franchise in advance of the team’s potential move to LA, has previously been very reluctant to yield any controlling interest in the club to others, but given DeBartolo’s excellent reputation around the league, and given that the Carson project still needs to procure more support from other league owners to move forward, Davis may be willing to make an exception. Nothing is imminent at this time, but this is still a development worth keeping an eye on.
10:59am: We heard earlier this week that although the Carson stadium proposal put forth by the Chargers and Raiders continues to gain momentum– particularly now that Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger has agreed to become chairman of the project–there are still a number of high-profile owners who back the Inglewood project, which would see Rams owner Stan Kroenke move his club to Los Angeles.
According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, those high-profile holdouts include Jerry Jones of the Cowboys, Robert Kraft of the Patriots, Dan Snyder of Washington, Jeffrey Lurie of the Eagles, Woody Johnson of the Jets, Ziggy Wilf of the Vikings, and Steve Biscotti of the Ravens. Bengals owner Mike Brown, meanwhile, frequently abstains from voting and would therefore be counted as a “nay” vote for either project. The Bills, Falcons, and 49ers apparently hold the “swing votes.”
As La Canfora writes, a number of owners were concerned that the Spanos and Davis families’ lack of prior experience in deals of this magnitude would be a major blow to the Carson project. However, the inclusion of Iger, who would “oversee the design, construction and development of the stadium, as well as set the vision for the marketing, branding and in-game experience,” has largely assuaged that concern. But the Carson project still does not have quite enough support from other owners to move forward. Either bid would need the approval of 24 owners, and La Canfora says that while the Carson bid has grown increasingly viable with the addition of Iger, the Kroenke supporters could still quash it.
Nonetheless, Iger’s decision to come aboard at this point in the process could signal his belief that the Carson project will obtain the ownership support it needs. While the Carson team will need at least one of the current Kroenke backers to change his vote, it appears increasingly likely that will happen.
And it’s likely Inglewood will start construction on its new stadium December 2015 the FAA cannot stop construction of a stadium even if it’s a Hazard to Air Navigation because no such law exists and when Inglewood’s new stadium does start construction in December if (and this is a big IF) owners do take notice of construction in Inglewod on the new stadium they will have no choice (24 of them out of the 32 including a majority of owners on the Committee on Los Angeles even Mara, Rooney, and McNair even those in the Carson camp) but to approve the Inglewood proposal as well as the because (if they take notice) since they would be aware of construction of the new stadium in Inglewood not only that they would know that since the Inglewood proposal and since they would this proposal is official therefore they would have to approve it as well as a make a recommendation in favor of Inglewood and the Rams.
And also since Jed York (owner of the San Francisco 49ers) is in favor of the Inglewood proposal (Los Angeles Entertainment Center) as well as a Rams move to Los Angeles and since the 49ers are one of three swing votes if they were to vote in favor of the Rams moving to Los Angeles this could swing it in favor of Stan Kroenke and potentially even the Bills and Falcons could vote in favor of the Inglewood proposal and a Rams move back to Los Angeles and swing it.
Well, let’s count the list of known supporters and possible supporters of Kroenke:
counting on 6 and 11 votes
if you combine those you get 17 votes in favor of Stan Kroenke and the Inglewood proposal (Los Angeles Entertainment Center) even though there are 32 NFL owners.
With that being said here are the known supporters of Stan Kroenke and the Inglewood proposal:
Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys)
Robert Kraft (New England Patriots)
Dan Snyder (Washington Redskins)
Jeffrey Lurie (Philadelphia Eagles)
Woody Johnson (New York Jets)
Zygi Wilf (Minnesota Vikings)
Steve Biscotti (Baltimore Ravens)
Jed York (San Francisco 49ers)
Possible supporters of Stan Kroenke:
Terrence Pegula (Buffalo Bills)
Arthur Blank (Atlanta Falcons)
Bob McNair (Houston Texans)
and possibly some other owners
Also since the 49ers (who are the swing vote) are supporting the Inglewood proposal and probably a Rams move to Los Angeles it’s possible that could swing it in favor of Inglewood and the Rams if the Bills and Falcons are on board with a Rams move to Los Angeles and the Inglewood proposal that could help them out and since Mike Brown (owner of the Cincinnati Bengals) is an abstainer in relocation that could add on to the non-Carson votes (votes in favor of Stan Kroenke and the Inglewood) that could create problems for Carson and the Raiders and Chargers.