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Tipsheet: NFL's focus on LA intensifies
• By Jeff Gordon
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_c6315516-55a1-53c9-9655-50d5f1020b5b.html
The Oakland Raiders came down the California coast to work with the Dallas Cowboys for a couple of days in Oxnard.
That allowed Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Raiders owner Mark Davis to get together and stir the Raiders-back-to-LA pot.
Jones is a noisy proponent of returning the NFL to Los Angeles. He has been prodding his fellow owners on this issue for years.
Davis is looking to escape his dreadful stadium scenario in Oakland. He has already flirted with San Antonio, but he is far more interested in Southern California.
Meanwhile, commissioner Roger Goodell wants the NFL to lord over the market itself, positioning the league to partner up on any LA stadium project and determine which team or teams go there.
Will it be an existing team? What about an expansion team? Could it be one of both?
The Rams will go to a year-to-year lease in St. Louis after this season. Owner Stan Kroenke has been directly involved in the NFL's LA evaluation and he has secured a parcel of land upon which he could possibly build.
Meanwhile, the Chargers can get out of their lease in San Diego and make the easy drive up the highway.
Here is how CBSSports.com columnist Jason La Canfora sizes up the scenario:
Davis has no long-term viable options in the Bay Area, short of perhaps sharing Levi's Stadium with the 49ers, which he remains diametrically opposed to. He would love to move to Los Angeles and has intensified his desire to do so in recent months, spending oodles of time in the area, sources have said. The NFL, however, would prefer to give another ownership group the rights to Los Angeles -- make no mistake, the road to LA goes through the league office in New York -- as the Davis family already pulled out of Southern California once, and Davis doesn't have the real estate, marketing and overall business expertise the league would demand for the coveted market.
Of course, having Jones, maybe the most influential owner in the league, work with him to build a consortium of business giants and Hollywood elites might make that option more viable . . .
Jones is among the owners who continue to speak regularly about the importance of getting a team to LA -- imagine spinning one of the league's bottom three revenue generators into a top-five earner for the shared revenue pie? -- and don't expect that to change anytime soon.
Expect the whole LA thing to finally become a front-burner issue after this season when Kroenke can muscle up.
Here is what some of our favorite sports pundits have been writing:
Peter King, SI.com: "If this four-man pass rush declines, the Rams defense is dead. Their talented but callow secondary can’t be expected to shoulder a heavier load in coverage. Playmaking corners like Janoris Jenkins and, to a lesser extent, Trumaine Johnson, count on being able to plant and drive on erroneous quick passes. Erroneous quick passes stem from pressure on the quarterback. Last season, Robert Quinn was far and away the most dominant edge player in the NFL. With offenses double-teaming and sliding protections towards Quinn, this defensive front’s other first-rounders—end Chris Long, tackle Michael Brockers and rookie tackle Aaron Donald—will draw favorable one-on-one situations. If they cannot take advantage, this defense will become reactionary and incapable of carrying the offense."
• By Jeff Gordon
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_c6315516-55a1-53c9-9655-50d5f1020b5b.html
The Oakland Raiders came down the California coast to work with the Dallas Cowboys for a couple of days in Oxnard.
That allowed Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Raiders owner Mark Davis to get together and stir the Raiders-back-to-LA pot.
Jones is a noisy proponent of returning the NFL to Los Angeles. He has been prodding his fellow owners on this issue for years.
Davis is looking to escape his dreadful stadium scenario in Oakland. He has already flirted with San Antonio, but he is far more interested in Southern California.
Meanwhile, commissioner Roger Goodell wants the NFL to lord over the market itself, positioning the league to partner up on any LA stadium project and determine which team or teams go there.
Will it be an existing team? What about an expansion team? Could it be one of both?
The Rams will go to a year-to-year lease in St. Louis after this season. Owner Stan Kroenke has been directly involved in the NFL's LA evaluation and he has secured a parcel of land upon which he could possibly build.
Meanwhile, the Chargers can get out of their lease in San Diego and make the easy drive up the highway.
Here is how CBSSports.com columnist Jason La Canfora sizes up the scenario:
Davis has no long-term viable options in the Bay Area, short of perhaps sharing Levi's Stadium with the 49ers, which he remains diametrically opposed to. He would love to move to Los Angeles and has intensified his desire to do so in recent months, spending oodles of time in the area, sources have said. The NFL, however, would prefer to give another ownership group the rights to Los Angeles -- make no mistake, the road to LA goes through the league office in New York -- as the Davis family already pulled out of Southern California once, and Davis doesn't have the real estate, marketing and overall business expertise the league would demand for the coveted market.
Of course, having Jones, maybe the most influential owner in the league, work with him to build a consortium of business giants and Hollywood elites might make that option more viable . . .
Jones is among the owners who continue to speak regularly about the importance of getting a team to LA -- imagine spinning one of the league's bottom three revenue generators into a top-five earner for the shared revenue pie? -- and don't expect that to change anytime soon.
Expect the whole LA thing to finally become a front-burner issue after this season when Kroenke can muscle up.
Here is what some of our favorite sports pundits have been writing:
Peter King, SI.com: "If this four-man pass rush declines, the Rams defense is dead. Their talented but callow secondary can’t be expected to shoulder a heavier load in coverage. Playmaking corners like Janoris Jenkins and, to a lesser extent, Trumaine Johnson, count on being able to plant and drive on erroneous quick passes. Erroneous quick passes stem from pressure on the quarterback. Last season, Robert Quinn was far and away the most dominant edge player in the NFL. With offenses double-teaming and sliding protections towards Quinn, this defensive front’s other first-rounders—end Chris Long, tackle Michael Brockers and rookie tackle Aaron Donald—will draw favorable one-on-one situations. If they cannot take advantage, this defense will become reactionary and incapable of carrying the offense."
