Today was the day that every football fan in Oakland, San Diego and St. Louis were waiting for, as the fate of their city’s team was going to be decided by the NFL’s six-member relocation committee.
Well, depending on how the past couple of weeks have left some either hoping for a return or being the first to wave goodbye, the verdict is in: Reports say that the San Diego Chargers and St. Louis Rams are moving to Los Angeles, with the two teams sharing a stadium in Inglewood, Ca.
https://twitter.com/CharlesRobinson/status/687074243062951936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Sounds like the #Raiders have bowed out. It's #Rams and #Chargers, with details and timing being worked out. In Inglewood
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 13, 2016
As first reported here, Chargers have option to join Rams in Inglewood starting as early as this year and for few years after
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) January 13, 2016
With news that the Raiders, allegedly, bowed out, that means the Silver and Black will return to the Bay Area, where they better pray for forgiveness from fans who they all but betrayed by even proposing to dart for la la land.
In San Diego and St. Louis, though, fans aren’t so lucky to get their teams back, as a Deadspin report listed 20 of 32 NFL owners who needed to vote on the three teams’ proposals for relocation declaring that the Chargers would be the team to join the Rams in a joint stadium project.
First round of votes was 20-12 in favor of Rans/TBD in Inglewood – short of the required 24. LA committee now meeting with Spanos and Davis.
— Sam Farmer (@LATimesfarmer) January 12, 2016
Oakland, on the other hand, seems to be the winner in all of this, as the Raiders remain in the city and the league agreeing to help with additional funds in order to build a new stadium in the near future.
Raiders will receive additional loan money earmarked for a future stadium in their home market when this becomes official I'm told
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) January 13, 2016
The biggest shitstorm with all of this news today is that the Rams and Chargers now need to figure out where in the hell they’ll be playing, as the proposed stadium isn’t really ready for completion until possibly 2019—assuming everything goes smoothly with construction.
That’s four seasons away, meaning the L.A. Coliseum may be the new home for these teams until then—where a rule would have to be rewritten in order to allow two pro teams to play there, because they don’t allow it as of now.
Overall, the Raiders now need to do damage control to restore love from the Black Hole and their fans, while Stan Kroenke gets his wish by leaving the city of St. Louis and San Diego fans will need to drive a couple hours to see their Chargers play.
It’s all about money—that’s the goal of successful businesses—but you can’t help but feel bad for each fanbase today, particularly those sporting Rams and Chargers colors.
It’s a sad day for the NFL, not a joyful one.