The Oakland Raiders/San Diego Chargers relocation plan to Los Angeles may have an ace up its sleeve in the race against the St. Louis Rams' plan: inertia on the part of the city of Oakland.
NFL.com is reporting that the NFL's return to Los Angeles in 2016 continues to build steam, even as the media reports have leveled off a bit. Commissioner Roger Goodell said in April that both the Rams' Inglewood plan and the Raiders/Chargers Carson plan are "viable" and have a "great deal of potential to be successful" in another NFL.com report.
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Whether NFL owners allow both plans to go forth remains to be seen, but Goodell also has said that the NFL's priority is to try to keep teams in their current markets. One question yet to be answered is if Los Angeles plan becomes the better option, will NFL owners reject the second plan?
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The Rams relocation plan to Hollywood Park, NFL.com adds, continues to maintain "an incremental lead" and an advantage with Kroenke's ability to throw more money at it, if necessary. If the Rams have the best plan of the two and have their move approved, would the NFL owners ban the Chargers and Raiders from moving, even if their plan also made sense?
According to the report, the Carson plan may get a boost from an unlikely situation: the city of Oakland has not made any progress toward a solution to the Raiders' stadium needs since March and is losing time.
NFL.com reported that St. Louis appears to be farthest along the current cities trying to find a suitable alternative for a home stadium to prevent relocation. Could the two factors - St. Louis' progress and Oakland's lack of progress - swing the Carson plan ahead of the Inglewood plan?
The relocation window, currently slated for Jan. 1-Feb. 15 for teams to declare their intentions to move, could be adjusted to an earlier time to allow the process to be completed by the Super Bowl.
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