Over the course of the last year, there has been a lot of talk about the possibility of the NFL once again having a team in Los Angeles. Several owners have weighed in with their thoughts on when that might actually occur and this past Friday Pittsburgh Steelers team President Art Rooney II was asked if he thinks a return to the City of Angels will happen sooner than later.
“I\’m going to say sooner, but look, there still needs to be a stadium to be built,” Rooney said on Movin\’ The Chains. “So it\’s not going to happen in a year from now, but I really think we know all the possible sites that are up there, and we have teams that are serious about possibly being there and so I think it will be sooner.”
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said roughly the same thing in late July, but insinuated that there could actually be two teams that relocate to Los Angeles.
“The owners don\’t mess much up … but we haven\’t gotten this one right,” said Jones during an interview on the NFL Network. “There\’s people, there\’s locations, there are people that are interested, a lot of people that can help us put this thing together. And as it turns out that we have at least two teams … that could move to this area.”
So which teams could possibly be moving to Los Angeles. You would have to think the St. Louis Rams are a prime candidate to be one of those two teams as they have the right to break their lease with the Edward Jones Dome following the 2014 season, because the facility will not get a publicly funded $700 million upgrade that the Rams requested.
The second team could be the San Diego Chargers, even though CEO Dean Spanos claims they have a firm commitment to the city of San Diego as the franchise continues their attempt to get a new stadium.
Outside of the Rams and the Chargers, the only other two teams that might relocate would be the Oakland Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars, although the Jaguars have a lease that runs through the 2027 season that would be tough to get out of.
While it doesn\’t look like anything will happen in 2014, judging by the recent comments made by Rooney and several other owners, the NFL will have at least one if not two teams in Los Angeles in 2015. Based on the rotating NFL schedule, the Steelers are scheduled to play both the Chargers and the Rams on the road in 2015, so there is a good chance that one of those games will be played in Los Angeles instead. Maybe even two.
