Raiders staying in Oakland; NFL owners meeting sends Rams to Inglewood
HOUSTON, Texas (KTVU, AP) - The Raiders will stay put in Oakland for now. News broke late Tuesday from the NFL owners meeting in Houston that the Rams will relocate to Inglewood and the San Diego Chargers have the option to join them in L.A. for a year. According to the NFL Network the vote was 30-2.
KTVU Sports Producer Jason Appelbaum tweeted his assessment, "We may have to revisit this whole relocation thing soon. Chargers have a year to decide on LA...if they stay in SD, Raiders can go."
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf weighed in on the developments Tuesday evening and offered the following statement:
“We are pleased to have additional time to work with the Raiders and the NFL to build a new home for the team in Oakland.
We recognize that the Raiders have been understandably frustrated over the years, so we are excited to have this chance to rededicate ourselves to getting a deal done in Oakland that works for the team, the NFL, our fans and our taxpayers.
We remain confident that the Raiders can build a new stadium in Oakland without a direct public subsidy. We stand ready to work with the Raiders and the NFL to responsibly make that happen.”
The Raiders have congratulated Rams' owner Stan Kroenke and the team on their successful bid to L.A. The team issued their own statement to say they'd be focusing their attention on finding a permanent stadium solution.
Earlier Tuesday, an influential NFL committee had recommended a relocation plan that would bring the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers to Carson, as two days of meetings with NFL owners got under way in Houston on Tuesday.
NFL owners have gathered to again try and settle the issue of which team or teams should relocate to the Los Angeles area, the nation's second largest market.
The NFL committee that made the Carson recommendation Tuesday includes six influential team owners: New England’s Bob Kraft, Carolina’s Jerry Richardson, Pittsburgh’s Art Rooney, Houston’s Bob McNair, Kansas City’s Clark Hunt and New York Giants' John Mara.
The committee's recommendation is not binding and there are several other proposals on the table.
In addition to the Carson project, Rams owner Stan Kroenke has proposed a $1.8 billion stadium in Inglewood, at the site of the old Hollywood Park racetrack.
There is also a recent proposal that involves the Chargers and Rams sharing a stadium in Inglewood.
The NFL Network is reporting the Chargers-Rams proposal in Inglewood would pass if voted by owners today.
And an early report from the Los Angeles Times said the owners are leaning toward a plan to keep the Raiders in the Bay Area, and Levi's Stadium is part of the reason why.
The owners meeting follows a report by Commissioner Roger Goodell that said the existing stadiums are "inadequate and unsatisfactory," and that the proposals the Raiders, Rams and Chargers received to remain in their current cities lacked certainty. The report is required in the relocation process.
Oakland is still in debt from a renovation 20 years ago when the Raiders moved back from Los Angeles. City officials have said they won't seek help from taxpayers with a new stadium, and asked the NFL for more time to develop a project in a league-required response to the Raiders' relocation plan.
No NFL franchise has moved since the Houston Oilers went to Tennessee in 1997. The Raiders and Rams both left Los Angeles after the 1994 season.
"I think the league, the NFL, looks at the disruption to any home city that potentially could lose their team to another city," New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch said. "And they look at it very seriously. No one is doing this to encourage clubs moving from Oakland, San Diego or St. Louis to Los Angeles."
Any franchise relocation plan requires approval from three-quarters, or 24 out of the 32 NFL owners.
There was talk Tuesday of conducting that vote by secret ballot.
KTVU Fox 2's Heather Holmes is in Houston and has been closely monitoring all the developments and will bring updates as they become available.