The NFL Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities has recommended the San Diego Chargers-led proposal to build an NFL stadium in Carson with the Oakland Raiders, according to reporters tweeting from the NFL owners' meetings in Houston:
NFL Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities has just recommended the Carson project to the league's owners
— Scott M. Reid (@sreidocregister) January 12, 2016
#NFL LA comm recommends Carson site 5-1. Lone exception: #Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, who said should 1 team or none #Rams #Chargers #Raiders
— Jason Cole (@JasonColeBR) January 12, 2016
After presentations by the NFL's committee on Los Angeles relocation, and backers of the Carson and Inglewood projects, the 29 NFL owners not requesting permission to move to Los Angeles are now deliberating on which teams and sites to approve. The result of their deliberations may come today or tomorrow.
The committee's decision appears to run counter to at least some influential voices among NFL ownership that believe the Inglewood site proffered by the St. Louis Rams is more desirable:
Mixed Signals..Comcast-Bleacher Report say Committee on LA recommends Carson...Influential owners say Hollywood Park proposal far superior
— Lee Hacksaw Hamilton (@hacksaw1090) January 12, 2016
Even with the committee vote, nothing has changed in this regard. https://t.co/PCJIwPBIPj
— Nathan Fenno (@nathanfenno) January 12, 2016
The power-brokering in a room filled with billionaires (including Seattle's Paul Allen, personally attending his first owner's meeting since July 2011) occurs at a level I can't even fathom.
last night, #NFL staff tried to nego better landlord-tenant deal between #Rams & #Chargers in Inglewood with LA Comm. Comm didn't like idea
— Jason Cole (@JasonColeBR) January 12, 2016
Reporter to Disney Chief Bob Iger: "Do you play Powerball?" Iger: "Iam playing Powerball." #NFL2LA
— Matthew Artz (@Matthew_Artz) January 12, 2016
Meanwhile, A's managing owner Lew Wolff officially asserts that he's not concerning himself with what the NFL will do this week, according to the Bay Area News Group:
"It's not a particularly big week for us,'' A's owner Lew Wolff said.
...
"We are studying our options, relooking at all the options we have,'' Wolff said Monday evening. "When they (the NFL) say `X,' whatever `X' is, there is a distance between what they say and when it happens. We are not sitting on pins and needles.
"It would be good to know generally what direction the NFL is going, but nothing will change right away.''
Wolff is being coy, I think. Sure, nothing can happen with the A's right now simply because by the time the Raiders have formalized plans for a temporary Los Angeles location, it will be too late for the A's to make significant changes to the Coliseum, like taking over the Raiders locker room space, for instance.
A vote of some sort will take place in the afternoon, though it's not known currently whether any proposal has the 24 votes needed to approve relocation:
NFL owners currently debating relocation proposals. Vote expected after mid-afternoon break. @Chargers @Raiders @STLouisRams
— Scott M. Reid (@sreidocregister) January 12, 2016
UPDATE 1:27 PM - The proposal for the Rams to move alone to Inglewood has been withdrawn from the ballot, leaving only the Cowboys proposal to have the Rams and Chargers move to Inglewood and the Chargers/Raiders proposal in Carson:
#Rams alone to Inglewood has been pulled from the ballot
— Vincent Bonsignore (@DailyNewsVinny) January 12, 2016
UPDATE 2:31 PM - Neither the Carson nor the Inglewood proposals earned the required 24 votes on the first ballot, but the Inglewood proposal gets more:
NFL owners completed their first vote. Neither project got required 24, but Rams/TBD in Inglewood gets more votes than Carson.
— Nathan Fenno (@nathanfenno) January 12, 2016