NFL owners to discuss relocation to Los Angeles again

After months of rumors, speculation and trial balloons, the only people who will truly decide the fate of pro football in Los Angeles began meeting on a brisk Tuesday morning at a hotel in Houston: The 32 NFL owners.

With the Raiders and city of Oakland far apart regarding stadium plans, team owner Mark Davis is looking to move his team to the second largest market in the United States as part of a joint proposal with the San Diego Chargers.

On top of the freely flowing water, though, there seems to be a ship with the St. Louis Rams and San Diego Chargers heading to Southern California and the Oakland Raiders getting a nice consolation prize.

“There’s no question the Chargers have more support than the others”, a high-ranking official with one NFL team told The Post’s Mark Maske, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the league’s deliberations are at a sensitive stage.

The NFL’s six-owner Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities is expected to request a vote on the relocation options following a discussion of the various proposals in Houston.

It has been the belief of the author that the Raiders have played their last game in the coliseum, but that doesn’t mean that the team will leave the Bay Area.

The Los Angeles Times reported there is increasing momentum to pair the Rams and Chargers.

Louis Rams will move to Los Angeles and share a stadium in Inglewood. But it’d be wise to pay particular attention to San Diego as an alternative if the Chargers go to Los Angeles.

Editor’s note: Raiders Insider Scott Bair is in Houston this week to cover the National Football League owners LA relocation vote.

Under NFL guidelines, franchises need the approval of three-quarters the league’s owners in order to relocate.

The Rams may face the most trouble at home: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch just published a dartboard featuring owner Stan Kroenke’s face after the team trashed the city’s stadium proposal and its economy in its relocation application. A proposal pushed by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones that’s gained some traction involves having the Chargers and Rams both play in Inglewood, though the Chargers have remained steadfast in their hopes to share a venue with the Raiders.

In theory, this lets the Raiders keep their NorCal fans, lets the Chargers keep their San Diego fans, and lets the Rams build the palace that they want.

The NFL is strongly considering the simultaneous move of two teams into the market, but any combination of the three is still possible.

In the years that have followed, the Chargers franchise has produced some of the more memorable characters in the league’s history.

“We’ve been working on it [with the Raiders] for over a year”, Spanos said Monday when arriving for this week’s meetings. The NFL owners meetings are underway. “But when I have the Los Angeles Rams, I care again”.

One way or the other, the Rams should be the team most hoping for a decision this week. The San Diego Chargers, the Oakland Raiders and the St. Louis Rams have applied to relocate. Disney CEO Bob Iger is leading the effort to get the Raiders and Chargers to Carson.

And so the league’s owners – who, according to Farmer, mostly prefer the Inglewood plan over the Carson plan – will spend this week trying to placate Spanos and make this plan work. Oakland has flat out denied a single penny of public money toward a new stadium – offering only money for infrastructure surrounding the stadium construction.