http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthony...ge-relocation-fee-raiders-preparing-for-move/
NFL May Not Charge Relocation Fee, Raiders Preparing For Move?
It appears that the National Football League is extremely motivated to relocate an NFL franchise to Los Angeles.
According to Sports Business Journal’s Daniel Kaplan, the NFL may not end up charging a relocation fee if and when a team decides to move to Los Angeles. Instead, the league may instead take a share of the team profits.
The report is interesting because Nick Canepa of
U-T San Diego reported back in April of this year that the relocation fee for a team heading to Los Angeles
could range anywhere from $250 million to a half-billion. Additionally, the
league’s relocation policy states that a relocating team “will ordinarily be expected to pay a transfer fee to the League,” which compensates other teams for the loss of the opportunity to move to the new market and/or accounting for the enhanced value of the franchise due to the relocation.
Considering Houston Texans owner Bob McNair had to pay a reported $700 million expansion fee to put a new franchise in south Texas, it shows how motivated the NFL is to bring a franchise back to mega-market that is Los Angeles.
Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis has reportedly grown frustrated with negotiations with the city of Oakland to build a new stadium and many believe the Raiders may be on their way out of Oakland and on their way back to Los Angeles.
Recently, St.Louis Rams owner
Stan Kroenke presented his plan to build a stadium in Inglewood and former San Francisco 49ers executive Carmen
Policy presented a joint plan by the Raiders and the San Diego Chargers to build a stadium to be shared between the two teams in Carson. Policy said that “the Chargers and Raiders are committed to Los Angeles” and that the presentation went well.
At an owners meeting held early last week to discuss relocation, NFL vice president
Eric Grubman said; “There has been no viable proposal” from Oakland to the Raiders.
New York Giants’ co-owner Steve Tisch was quoted in the
Los Angeles Times: “At some point that’s (relocation) going to be inevitable,” he said. “I think Roger (Goodell) has thought about it, the L.A. stadium committee has thought about it, and though we’re not ready to cross that bridge yet, it is something that at the appropriate time it will be handled very sensitively.”
Considering
the reports that Raiders’ owner Mark Davis had spoken with San Antonio about the possibility of a relocation to San Antonio, it seems likely that the Raiders are preparing to leave Oakland and could use San Antonio as a temporary home while a stadium is being built.
On Friday,
San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor said her city is able to host an NFL team in the interim period until a stadium is completed in Los Angeles and saw the possibility of hosting the Raiders for a season as a platform to show the city’s capability to be a future permanent home of an NFL franchise.
“I think it would give NFL fans here the experience of having a team here locally and it would further highlight the assets of San Antonio to the NFL,” Taylor said. “Should there be any expansion or other moves, it lets the NFL know San Antonio is a viable option.”
Back in 2005, the New Orleans Saints temporarily relocated to San Antonio and played 3 regular season “home” games at the Alamodome in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
It’s becoming more and more obvious that the NFL wants to move a team to L.A as soon as possible and it also seems that the stars are aligning for the Raiders to return to the big-market city it once called home.
