NFL news: Around the league in 32 plays

Happy Red Friday Addicts!  In case you missed it, Hurricane Alex is coming straight for New England…oh, and there’s some big storm in the Atlantic too.

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As for the rest of the NFL news and rumors for the week, well the headlines were definitely dominated by one major event above all else…the NFL is heading back to Los Angeles.  Obviously that’s going to be our Lead Story this week as it is easily the biggest news going on.  Apart from that, the coach and front office hirings are in full effect, and there are a few key injuries to take a look at.

Lead Story: NFL Is Back In Los Angeles

It’s been building for a long time, years in fact.  It was never a secret that the National Football League wanted another crack at the LA market.  The only question was about how they would get there.  Well, 2015 certainly provided the opportunities.  Three down and out franchises were all coming up on the ends of their stadium agreements.  Each team was in desperate need of new facilities but were getting almost no help from their host cities.  The board was definitely set in favor of Los Angeles.

The NFL only had two hurdles to face…public disapproval of a move, and figuring out which team or teams would be moving.  The first problem was an easy fix when you looked at the teams involved…

• Oakland Raiders – They were literally the only team left in football playing on a baseball field.  The NFL won this argument with every Raiders home game.
• San Diego Chargers – The running joke in the league has been about Chargers ticket sales.  Every week seeing the stadium filled with the other team’s fans told the story here.
• St Louis Rams – It’s gotten over-shadowed recently, but the field itself was being called a health hazard by the players.  A number of injuries showed the state of this facility.

With the easy part out of the way, it just came down to which teams would be moving.  The biggest hurdle here was the fact that there were two rival proposals, both of which had a lot of backing.  The first proposal came from Rams owner Stan Kroenke, who had secured land in Inglewood, California to build a stadium complex.  Kroenke proposed to go it alone, wanting to keep the LA market all to himself.  The second proposal was a joint venture by the Raiders and Chargers in Carson City, Califorinia, headed up by former Disney CEO Bob Iger.  This move would send two familiar teams to the area and reduce the cost the league and city would have to kick up.

It became pretty evident early on that owners liked Kroenke’s move better, but would insist on a second team being involved…the one thing Kroenke didn’t want.  St Louis had repeatedly been at the bottom of ticket and merchandise sales for over a decade.  As a “baseball town”, St Louis would serve the NFL better as a secondary market to one of the other regional teams.  This helps explain why the Rams move was being championed by Chiefs owner Clark Hunt.  Hunt clearly saw that the Kansas City Chiefs were in the best position to take advantage of the fan base vacuum in St Louis.

The board was set and the real negotiations began this past week in Houston.  The NFL’s relocation committee met and produced a finding that put the pressure on Stan Kroenke to adjust his plans.  Within 48 hours of the committee recommending the Raiders/Chargers plan, it was announced that the Rams were the team moving to LA after having agreed to partner with the Chargers on the move.  The NFL got exactly what it wanted.  However, the story doesn’t end there as the Raiders were suddenly up in the air.  But now even that looks to be changing.  So, moving forward, here is where each team now stands…

• Oakland Raiders – The Raiders were the odd team out in the move to Los Angeles.  However, reports are now surfacing saying the Raiders have purchased land in San Antonio to make a move there.  The city has been trying to appeal to the NFL for several years now.
• San Diego Chargers – The Chargers appear set to move to Los Angeles as a partner with the Rams.  The Chargers were pretty much billed from the beginning as the tag along team for any stadium deal.
• St Louis Rams – The Rams have won their bid to move to Los Angeles.  It is expected that the NFL will give ultimate approval to owner Stan Kroenke’s proposal as long as it includes another team.  The Chargers are expected to be that team.  The move is all but done, but still needs some minor finalization measures.

It’s interesting that the Raiders are now setting the stage for a move to San Antonio.  This could actually be a part of a bigger play for the NFL.  While everyone talks about a team being placed in London, it is often forgotten that the NFL has stated before that they want a team in Mexico.  Positioning a team as popular as the Raiders that close to the border opens up Mexican media markets to a very marketable franchise.  It also adds an alternative for new fans from having to choose between the Cardinals and Cowboys.

From the Chiefs fans point of view, nothing much is changing.  Yes, the Governors Cup series is over…but did anybody really ever care more about that game than any others?  And the conference won’t be changing.  The biggest thing here for Kansas City is the potential for a whole lot of new fans to be added to the mix.  Something that apparently wasn’t lost on the Colts.

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