Chargers countdown: NFL owners meeting

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SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – All the signs are pointing to a decision next week on which football teams will be relocating to Los Angeles.

That’s when the league’s committee on Los Angeles, which has controlled this process, will make its recommendation.

The committee worked late into the evening on Wednesday reviewing the relocation applications from the Chargers, Raiders and Rams.

If we’ve learned anything during this tortured process to return football to Los Angeles, it’s that the league does not like uncertainty.

There is a consensus about one thing. A majority of the owners want football in Los Angeles in 2016, but uncertainty remains about which teams will move.

After the meeting in New York earlier this week, two committee members said so much was accomplished on Wednesday that there was no need to meet on Thursday, indicating the L.A. committee will recommend to the 32 owners in Houston which teams qualify for relocation.

The loser could receive additional financial support from the league to get a stadium in its home market.

The powerful owners in the league are split between Carson and Inglewood but it’s the smaller franchise owners who have a majority of the votes.

Nobody knows where the vote count really stands although various reporters have said they count 18 to 20 votes for Carson and 6 to 10 votes for Inglewood.

Twenty-four votes are needed to move. It takes nine votes to block a move.

Meantime, the three teams have to provide further documentation verifying their commitments to the relocation fee, which is set a $550 million, moving procedures and an opening date for a new stadium.

These will be the first votes followed by the vote on relocation.

Here are the relocation possibilities: 

  • The Chargers and Raiders application is approved.
  • The Chargers alone get approved.
  • The Rams along get approval.
  • The Rams do not meet relocation guidelines.
  • Some combination of Rams/Chargers or Rams/Raiders getting approval.

Back in April, League Vice President Eric Grubman said the Chargers meet the guidelines.

Absent a consensus on the teams or a stadium site, there’s a chance of another meeting after the Super Bowl, or this gets put over for another year which is not likely.

There’s one other critical vote, selecting a stadium site.

This could be a thorny issue.

Dean Spanos has had a frosty relationship with Rams owner Stan Kroenke and has said he does not want to be a tenant in Inglewood.

However, this week he said he would abide by whatever decision the owners make.

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