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Raiders, Bills could be eyeing LA market
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_1970f117-7278-55a3-ad1d-180901b14076.html
In terms of Los Angeles, and the prospect of a team moving there in the near future, all was quiet at the NFL owners meetings this past week in Orlando, Fla. At least from the league’s standpoint.
“We’ve been very open that if we had the right opportunity to be back in Los Angeles with the right formula — meaning a stadium — most importantly,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said. “We know there are millions of fans who want a team there. We would love to do that, but it has to be successful.
“We are going to do it right if we are going to do it. There are different proposals out there and different opportunities, but not one that we are focused on and can say that we have the right solution yet. We’re not there.”
In other words, it’s basically the same message from Goodell on Los Angeles since he became league commissioner eight years ago. The theory of a team is nice; but without a viable stadium plan it remains a non-starter as has been the case for nearly two decades.
This September marks the 20th season without an NFL team in the nation’s second-largest market. The closest LA has come to a team came in the late ‘90s when the city was conditionally awarded a team but could not close the deal. As a result, that franchise became the Houston Texans. Thus, Goodell’s continued insistence that Los Angeles must “do it right” in order to get a team.
While there was very little talk about Los Angeles in the meeting rooms in Orlando, the hallways of the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes — site of the meetings — were a different matter.
Frustrated over the lack of progress in a new stadium proposal in Oakland, Raiders owner Mark Davis talked openly about Los Angeles as a possible future home. (The Raiders left LA in 1995, just a few months after the Rams gained league approval to move to St. Louis in April of that year.)
When asked if Oakland fans had anything to worry about, Davis replied:
“I don’t know how to answer that,” Davis said. “ ‘Worry about’ what?”
Worry about the team moving to Los Angeles was the follow-up question.
“No, not at this time,” Davis said. “We’re trying to get something done in Oakland. We’ll see what happens there. And then the next step will be, if Oakland doesn’t happen, then we’ll see what’s after that.”
Earlier, he told reporters in Orlando, “Los Angeles is something that I’ve definitely thought about, and haven’t pursued.”
Since the Rams and Raiders moved, LA has proven to be a valuable leverage tool for the NFL. New stadiums have been built in city after city throughout the league, with the threat looming of their team moving to Los Angeles.
NFL owners voted Monday to approve a one-year extension of the Raiders’ lease at Oakland Coliseum. But next year could be a different matter. Further south in San Diego, the Chargers also are operating on a year-to-year lease.
The Rams will be in the same situation next year at this time if the team and St. Louis fail to reach an agreement on fulfilling “first-tier” stadium lease provisions. Fourteen months ago, arbitrators ruled in favor of a Rams’ proposal calling for an estimated $700 million in stadium improvements at the Edward Jones Dome — not much less than a new stadium would cost.
On Tuesday, the death of longtime Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson could put the Bills in play as an LA possibility. The team is expected to be put up for sale at some point in the near future. The Bills have a stadium lease that runs through 2022, and for the next six years it will cost $400 million to break that lease.
But in 2020, it costs only $28 million to break the lease, giving any new owner a one-year window to move the team for a relatively inexpensive price before 2022.
Six years may seem like a long time to get things settled in western New York. Then again, 19 seasons have gone by pretty quickly in St. Louis.
“I haven’t focused on that,” Goodell said, when asked about the future of the Bills in Buffalo. “That’s not something I’ve spent any time on in recent days. My thoughts and my heart are with the Wilson family. We all know they have a lease. We know the terms of that lease and we also know we have to find a long-term solution to keep the Bills there, and that’s what we will work to do. But that’s not the priority right now. ...’’
Goodell is from Jamestown, N.Y., about 70 miles south of Buffalo, so it’s safe to assume he will do everything possible to keep the Wilson legacy going by keeping the team there.
“Coming from western New York, I know how much he did for the western New York region, and I also know what he’s done for the NFL, having seen it first-hand,” Goodell said. “As a commissioner, I saw that he’s a great owner.”
As for the Rams and owner Stan Kroenke, all is quiet, as usual. The Rams turned down an interview request by the Post-Dispatch at the owners meetings. And all signs point to the team being a franchise free agent by this time next year.
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_1970f117-7278-55a3-ad1d-180901b14076.html
In terms of Los Angeles, and the prospect of a team moving there in the near future, all was quiet at the NFL owners meetings this past week in Orlando, Fla. At least from the league’s standpoint.
“We’ve been very open that if we had the right opportunity to be back in Los Angeles with the right formula — meaning a stadium — most importantly,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said. “We know there are millions of fans who want a team there. We would love to do that, but it has to be successful.
“We are going to do it right if we are going to do it. There are different proposals out there and different opportunities, but not one that we are focused on and can say that we have the right solution yet. We’re not there.”
In other words, it’s basically the same message from Goodell on Los Angeles since he became league commissioner eight years ago. The theory of a team is nice; but without a viable stadium plan it remains a non-starter as has been the case for nearly two decades.
This September marks the 20th season without an NFL team in the nation’s second-largest market. The closest LA has come to a team came in the late ‘90s when the city was conditionally awarded a team but could not close the deal. As a result, that franchise became the Houston Texans. Thus, Goodell’s continued insistence that Los Angeles must “do it right” in order to get a team.
While there was very little talk about Los Angeles in the meeting rooms in Orlando, the hallways of the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes — site of the meetings — were a different matter.
Frustrated over the lack of progress in a new stadium proposal in Oakland, Raiders owner Mark Davis talked openly about Los Angeles as a possible future home. (The Raiders left LA in 1995, just a few months after the Rams gained league approval to move to St. Louis in April of that year.)
When asked if Oakland fans had anything to worry about, Davis replied:
“I don’t know how to answer that,” Davis said. “ ‘Worry about’ what?”
Worry about the team moving to Los Angeles was the follow-up question.
“No, not at this time,” Davis said. “We’re trying to get something done in Oakland. We’ll see what happens there. And then the next step will be, if Oakland doesn’t happen, then we’ll see what’s after that.”
Earlier, he told reporters in Orlando, “Los Angeles is something that I’ve definitely thought about, and haven’t pursued.”
Since the Rams and Raiders moved, LA has proven to be a valuable leverage tool for the NFL. New stadiums have been built in city after city throughout the league, with the threat looming of their team moving to Los Angeles.
NFL owners voted Monday to approve a one-year extension of the Raiders’ lease at Oakland Coliseum. But next year could be a different matter. Further south in San Diego, the Chargers also are operating on a year-to-year lease.
The Rams will be in the same situation next year at this time if the team and St. Louis fail to reach an agreement on fulfilling “first-tier” stadium lease provisions. Fourteen months ago, arbitrators ruled in favor of a Rams’ proposal calling for an estimated $700 million in stadium improvements at the Edward Jones Dome — not much less than a new stadium would cost.
On Tuesday, the death of longtime Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson could put the Bills in play as an LA possibility. The team is expected to be put up for sale at some point in the near future. The Bills have a stadium lease that runs through 2022, and for the next six years it will cost $400 million to break that lease.
But in 2020, it costs only $28 million to break the lease, giving any new owner a one-year window to move the team for a relatively inexpensive price before 2022.
Six years may seem like a long time to get things settled in western New York. Then again, 19 seasons have gone by pretty quickly in St. Louis.
“I haven’t focused on that,” Goodell said, when asked about the future of the Bills in Buffalo. “That’s not something I’ve spent any time on in recent days. My thoughts and my heart are with the Wilson family. We all know they have a lease. We know the terms of that lease and we also know we have to find a long-term solution to keep the Bills there, and that’s what we will work to do. But that’s not the priority right now. ...’’
Goodell is from Jamestown, N.Y., about 70 miles south of Buffalo, so it’s safe to assume he will do everything possible to keep the Wilson legacy going by keeping the team there.
“Coming from western New York, I know how much he did for the western New York region, and I also know what he’s done for the NFL, having seen it first-hand,” Goodell said. “As a commissioner, I saw that he’s a great owner.”
As for the Rams and owner Stan Kroenke, all is quiet, as usual. The Rams turned down an interview request by the Post-Dispatch at the owners meetings. And all signs point to the team being a franchise free agent by this time next year.
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