In news that can’t be considered too surprising, at least one report is suggesting that the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders are not happy about the NFL’s decision move forward with the relocation of the St. Louis Rams to Los Angeles.
League source: "Chargers aren't happy. Raiders aren't happy. This is still a mess."
— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) January 13, 2016
All three teams have been vying for league approval of relocation over the past year or so. The league-wide vote that took place in Houston on Tuesday paved the path for the Rams to relocate to Inglewood — on the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, the Chargers have been given a one-year window to join the Rams in Inglewood. If they decide not to relocate a bit further north, the door will be open for the Raiders to move down south with the Rams.
In lieu of being given the go ahead to relocate, the Raiders will receive extra funds to build a new stadium in their home market, wherever that might be.
While Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has already made it known just how good the Inglewood stadium project will be for the NFL, it’s not a surprise that neither the Chargers or the Raiders are happy with this end result.
After all, they had been joined at the hip in Carson long before Tuesday’s vote.
The Raiders themselves released a statement on Tuesday evening:
“The Raiders congratulate Stan Kroenke and the Rams on their successful bid for relocation to Los Angeles,” the team said through their official website. “The Raiders will now turn our attention to exploring all options to find a permanent stadium solution. We thank fans throughout the Raider Nation for their unrivaled passion and support.”
Notice how there is no mention of the city of Oakland in this press release? Raiders owner Mark Davis made a point earlier on Tuesday to indicate that the team’s lease with the Oakland Coliseum has already expired. In doing so, he left the door open for other options outside of the San Francisco Bay Area:
Mark Davis where he'll be in 2016 "I don't know where we'll be. My lease at the Coliseum is expired… America, the world, is possibility."
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) January 13, 2016
From here, this whole situation gets a bit convoluted.
San Diego has an opportunity to keep the Chargers, who might use the option to move to Inglewood as a bargaining chip. Though, there is absolutely no way the Chargers would agree to stay in San Diego without a new stadium being built.
That would enable the Raiders to join the Rams in Inglewood, bringing two NFL teams within the Chargers territorial vicinity in Southern California.
Meanwhile, the Raiders don’t seem to have much of a future in Northern California. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf did not present the NFL with a viable stadium plan prior to its late-December deadline, and the political issues in that downtrodden city remain vast.
She made sure to point that out in a press release after the decision to relocate the Rams to Los Angeles was made:
“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.”
The last part of that statement is interesting. In no way can the Raiders expect the city of Oakland to approve a stadium plan that includes a large sum of cash coming from the taxpayers. And in reality, that could be the hold up moving forward.
Davis and the Raiders are not totally without options here, and he made sure to say as much Tuesday evening. If he’s anything like his father (not saying he is), the NFL could expect a protracted legal battle from an organization it has given the shaft to far too many times over the years.
Freeman’s report that the Raiders and Chargers aren’t too happy about Tuesday’s decision only magnified this point further.