While all eyes are on the city of Los Angeles, which may become host to one or two NFL teams next season, the city of St. Louis has submitted a formal proposal for a new stadium that would keep the St. Louis Rams from moving.
Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times reports the city of St. Louis has submitted its formal offer with the NFL’s Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities.
The St. Louis task force has submitted its stadium proposal to the NFL, a day before the deadline.
— Sam Farmer (@LATimesfarmer) December 29, 2015
Neither the San Diego Chargers nor the Oakland Raiders have submitted a like proposal, with just one day remaining before the deadline passes.
It will be interesting to see if this proposal includes the extra $100 million (from $200-$300 million). When the extra money was rumored to be part of any new deal last week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wasn’t pleased. He said that such a proposal would be “fundamentally inconsistent with the NFL’s program of stadium financing.”
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk indicated this extra money is being included in the St. Louis deal because the same amount was “wink nod approved” by two members of the league’s L.A. Committee.
The vote to potentially move one or two teams from their current location to Los Angeles is expected to take place on Jan. 13, 2016. Unless Rams owner Stan Kroenke gets 24 votes in favor of moving his team to Southern California, the Rams will be stuck in St. Louis, and there will be pressure for the league to approve the extra $100 million.