In January, NFL team owners are expected to vote on which teams will move to Los Angeles. As the date approaches, it's becoming ever more clear that the owners don't have a consensus on which team or teams (if any!) it will be uprooting and sending to Los Angeles to fill the football-shaped hole in our collective hearts that's been open for about 20 years now. The Chargers and Raiders could go to Carson, the Rams could end up in Inglewood (possibly with a second team joining them), but with no clear frontrunners for relocation and the pressure to make a decision soon (so that a team or teams can move in time for the next season), "The NFL has a mess on its hands," the LA Times explains. There are plenty of factors working against each team's bid to head to LA.
The Rams
—St. Louis has tried really hard to keep its football team, flashing some some serious cash in the Rams's direction. "The Rams potentially would be walking away from a significant amount of public money, and the NFL is not in the habit of doing that."
—If the relocation hinges on some kind of popularity contest, Rams owner Stan Kroenke would lose; he rankled plenty of owners just by buying the stadium land last year, the Times says.
—At the same time, Kroenke got this disaster train rolling and it's suspected that he's going to fight tooth and nail for the Rams to move because he's spent so much money and has so much otherwise invested in the move.
The Chargers
—The Chargers have "no discernible fan base" in LA; when they moved their training camp to Carson (briefly; they moved back to San Diego after two years), 24 people showed up to watch their first practice, according to an LA Times count.
—"[T]he Chargers will always be regarded as the other team in L.A." and changing that perception could take years and years of work.
—They've also strained relations with their San Diego fan base, so those fans probably won't be making the trip up to Carson to watch their ex-team play in their new home.
The Raiders
—Even though Oakland has done the least bending-over-backwards to keeps its team in the Bay Area, the Raiders "seems the most torn about leaving [their] market." (Granted, it's not hard to seem torn compared to the Rams and Chargers. The mayor of St. Louis has said Stan Kroenke won't take his calls; the Chargers and San Diego "are essentially divorced," says the Times.)
—The Raiders have the least "financial horsepower" of all the teams trying to move to Los Angeles.
—The Raiders are also at the bottom of the (short) list in terms of owner support for relocation.
· L.A. stadium solution has never been closer, yet NFL owners are miles apart [LAT]
· Two NFL Teams Could Relocate to Proposed Inglewood Stadium [Curbed LA]
· The NFL Has No Idea Which Team and Stadium Will Bring Football Back to Los Angeles [Curbed LA]
· Three NFL Teams All Want to Move to Los Angeles Really Badly [Curbed LA]