After months of speculation, not just one major football franchise but three applied Monday night to relocate to Los Angeles. That's right, LA is the desired location of the Raiders, Chargers and Rams. It would be a homecoming of sorts for all three since the teams have each spent time in Los Angeles at some point (Raiders from 1982-1994, Chargers in 1960 and Rams in the Greater Los Angeles area from 1946 to 1994).
Monday evening was the first day the franchises were allowed to apply to move, and clearly they were all eager to do so despite the reported $550 million relocation fee.
Only two of the teams can be approved to move to LA (and the league may choose to approve none), which according to the Orange County Register will be voted on next week in Houston at the league's meeting.
"Three teams—the Oakland Raiders, St. Louis Rams, and San Diego Chargers—each submitted applications to our office today to relocate their franchises to the Los Angeles area beginning with the 2016 season,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement. "The applications will be presented for consideration at next week’s league meeting in Houston on Tuesday and Wednesday. The relocation of a franchise requires the affirmative vote of three-quarters of the NFL clubs (24 of 32).”
Where the teams would play is another factor. Both the Chargers and Raiders are going for the proposed Carson stadium while the Rams are leaning toward the proposed Inglewood stadium.
We're super excited to potentially have a NFL team to call our own—but we can't help thinking about how much traffic it's going to cause.