Quote:Are we to assume the 2 dissenting votes were from Mark Davis and Dean Spanos?  

Maybe, maybe not. Mark Davis is probably getting a pile of cash out of this deal to build a stadium wherever he wants to, and Spanos still has the option of moving to LA.

 

Quote:Like I expressed many times in recent months,  there's no question in my mind that Kroenke is the NFLs worst owner.   He's cemented his legacy as an NFL owner,  regardless of what transpires in Los Angeles.   That much more after listening to his comments at the press conference following the relocation vote.

Dan Snyder - Patience of a six-month-old

Jimmy Haslam - Felon, patience of a three-month-old

Jim Irsay - cokehead, insane

 

Those are three right off the top of my head that I'd be less interested in having. Kroenke's not really a terrible owner unless you live in SL. One has to sit back tonight and look at how he was able to sneak a team out from under everyone's nose, make a freaking huge land purchase in the center of the LA metroplex without anyone noticing, drag his current city through the mud and, in the process, create a scenario where, if the NFL were to tell him that the Chargers and Raiders were moving and he wasn't, he could hold them hostage with the threat of a book-opening anti-trust suit that would expose the NFL to monopolistic practice laws. He's a Richard, yeah, but from a cold, hard business perspective, he could not possibly have executed this any better than he did.

 

Quote: Unless something happens for Mark Davis to get a new stadium in Oakland,  I think there's at least a pretty good chance the Raiders will be playing in San Antonio by 2017.   How ironic that would be after Jerry Jones was the owner other than Stan Kroenke most responsible for the Rams being able to leave St. Louis for Los Angeles.  

I think there's a pile (or fifty) of cash coming out of the LA relocation fund with Mark Davis' name on it. I read a handful of articles out of Oakland over the last year, and I got the impression that he didn't really want to leave, but the government's complete unwillingness to give the Raiders any form of public money to build a new stadium was forcing his hand. If Davis does, in fact, get what he needs out of the Rams' relocation fee to build the surprisingly modest 55,000-seat stadium he wants, I wouldn't expect to see the Raiders anywhere but Oakland for the rest of his life.

 

Quote:San Antonio has been a bridesmaid in NFL relocation talk for a while now. I just don't see the Raiders leaving California. If the Bolts head for LA, it would not surprise me one bit to see the Raiders land there.

Doubt it. One of the underlying messages in the NFL's moves tonight is that the NFL wants itself out of San Diego, where it's potentially competing with itself.

 

"But why would the NFL give the Chargers $100M to figure something out with SD?"

 

Simple. The NFL knows, as does Dean Spanos, as does everyone in San Diego, that a $100M incentive will not get a stadium built without public funds--the same public funds that no one in the municipal government has been willing to talk about for the last decade and a half. I really do hope the Chargers stay in SD, but I think they're ultimately the team that will end up leaving California. If you believe what you read (and the results of the day kind of indicate this), Spanos absolutely does not want to do business with Kroenke, and he doesn't want to put his team in the position of being a tenant in a building owned by a different team. Always-a-bridesmaid San Antonio might end up being the best option for them long-term.

 

Quote:Not a big deal. San Antonio is pretty far from Dallas.

Eh, not really. Granted, I live a little southwest of Dallas proper, but if I'm motivated to get there, I can be there in a little under four hours. It's only a few minutes longer than it takes to get to Houston.

---