Will L.A. get its own National Football League team?

An agreement to stage games in the United Kingdom through 2016 not only was extended, but other nations will be considered for global games.

“That’s our biggest fan base, our most vibrant market”, said Mark Waller, the league’s vice president/international. “It would be a logical place to start”.

The National Football League today finally signed off on a cross-ownership arrangement five years in the making that lets sports magnate Stan Kroenke hang onto his St. Louis Rams and keep his Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche in the family.

“I don’t think we’ll move up the deadline”, Rooney said. “We have great momentum”. But we’re protecting our game. “We will continue to uphold the integrity of the game and will do that as vehemently as we can”.

That $6 million a year we already knew about: It’s the city’s share of tax money that is now being used to pay off the Jones Dome bonds, and was supposed to accompany $12 million a year from similar state taxes.

Earlier this year, the NFL agreed with English Premier League club Tottenham to play at least two games a season at its new stadium in north London, which is scheduled to open in 2018. That is a 10-year deal. Goodell also said that the league is monitoring the increase in penalties and pace of play that have occurred this year.

Now, other locales very much are in play. “They’re people we should all be proud of”, Goodell said. “And that’s a high priority for us”. “Mexico we are hugely excited about, always have been, at least since 2005”.

It didn’t matter whether he was discussing football inflation, player arrests, team relocation or fantasy football, Roger Goodell made one thing clear: rules are rules. (This isn’t due just to inflation, but to interest rates – any time banks will pay interest on your money, it’s better to have cash now than in a couple of decades.) Recalculating to present value would bring the actual cost down to, let’s see, probably something more in the $100 million range.

The Pro Bowl also could land in worldwide sites.

Goodell and Pittsburgh owner Art Rooney II both said the league’s relocation guidelines were emphasized throughout Wednesday’s meetings. “It’s hard to imagine taking a regular-season game to Australia or Asia or the Far East because how would you make the logistics work and then be competitive?”