Add two more teams to the NFL-to-L.A. discussion.
The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders have joined together for a stadium proposal on a site in Carson, California, per two league sources. Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times first reported the news.
Executive vice president of NFL ventures and business operations Eric Grubman was encouraged by the increase in available options for teams looking to relocate to Los Angeles.
"In my opinion, the most important thing represented by the recently announced club-driven initiatives, is that the options available to present a viable L.A. solution have increased," Grubman told NFL Media. "No project is certain until all the issues have been worked out, and the owners have voted to move forward, but two potentially viable projects pushing ahead increases the probability that something could get done."
The Chargers and Raidersreleased a joint statement Thursday evening explaining their proposal:
» We have both been working in our home markets to find a stadium solution for many years, so far unsuccessfully.
» We remain committed to continuing to work in our home markets throughout 2015 to try to find publicly acceptable solutions to the long-term stadium issue.
» We also both understand and respect the NFL's relocation process, and we intend to adhere strictly to the relocation procedures that the League has set forth for Los Angeles.
» In particular, we respect the right of the NFL's owners to decide on all Los Angeles-related relocation issues and understand that any relocation application that is filed for Los Angeles must obtain the approval of three-fourths of the NFL's owners.
» Both teams have kept the NFL owners' committee on Los Angeles, and the Commissioner, fully informed about our joint efforts.
» We are pursuing this stadium option in Carson for one straightforward reason: If we cannot find a permanent solution in our home markets, we have no alternative but to preserve other options to guarantee the future economic viability of our franchises.
» In short, for the remainder of 2015, we intend to move down two tracks simultaneously:
-- On track one, we will continue to work in our home markets to find permanent stadium solutions that are publicly acceptable.
-- On track two, we will work in Carson to preserve our options, and the future economic viability of our franchises, in the event that our efforts in our local markets fail.
» Throughout this process we will respect the rules and procedures set forth by the League and defer completely to the ultimate decision of the NFL's owners.
The NFL responded with a two-sentence statement:
"We are in regular contact with all involved clubs. All clubs have been meeting their responsibilities to keep us informed," the league said.
Grubman said a team in Los Angeles in 2016 isn't a guarantee.
"I would not yet draw a conclusion that everything gets done, and certainly I would not agree that 2016 is a certainty," Grubman said. "There is no reason to slow things down or to speed things up. I believe the owners will vote to move forward when a good and sound proposal so presented, and Relocation Guidelines have been met. This is a potentially positive development, with lots more work to do."
This proposal is the second to be announced in 2015 for Los Angeles, which has been without NFL football since the end of the 1994 season. St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke is part of a joint venture to build an 80,000-seat NFL stadium along with other retail, office and residential spaces on a Hollywood Park site in Inglewood, California, which was announced in January.
