NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has sent a report to all 32 teams in the NFL, to update them on the potential relocation of a team to Los Angeles and assist them with facts in the matter, as per the relocation policy, a source who has read the memo told NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport.
The St. Louis Rams, San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders submitted applications for relocation to Los Angeles earlier this week.
There are no opinions in the 48-page report on who should move or which of the proposed sites is better, per Rapoport, just facts to help the clubs decide during the owners' meeting scheduled to take place in Houston, Texas on January 12 and 13, 2016.
The main point of the report, per Rapoport, is that city leaders in St. Louis, San Diego and Oakland missed their opportunity to improve their stadium situations.
Here are other key things to take away from the report:
--The current stadiums in the three respective cities are all "inadequate and unsatisfactory." The cities did not develop proposals sufficient to ensure retention of their respective NFL teams. The leadership in each city agrees in the inadequacy of the current stadium and the lack of a timely response.
Each of the teams in those cities has been working to improve on the inadequacies.
--None of the three clubs has received a stadium proposal from its current city free of significant contingencies or were presented with a long-term solution. In one case (Oakland), there was a conceptual proposal without a formal offer. In two (St. Louis and San Diego), the plans are dependent on various contingencies, such as money from the league not yet approved or financing plans not passed through. They lack in certainty, financially speaking. The league funding allows $200 million for a new stadium, while the St. Louis proposal calls on $300 million.
--None of the three teams would be breaking a stadium lease to move. In the St. Louis situation, relocation is actually in the lease. So all three franchises are eligible to relocate.
--The stadium experience is critical for the future. Both the Hollywood Park site in Inglewood and the site in Carson are ready for development. They are both locations where a first-class stadium can be built. Both stadiums are approved for one or two teams and without any obvious contingencies.
--Market research supports that the L.A. market can support two teams.
