Three things to watch for Rams at owners meetings

Three things to watch for Rams at owners meetings

By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/18520/three-things-to-watch-for-rams-at-owners-meetings

SAN FRANCISCO — The spring owners meetings generally don’t draw the same amount of attention as the March proceedings but if you’re a fan of the St. Louis Rams (or Oakland Raiders or San Diego Chargers), this year’s meetings might prove critically important.

While none of those three teams will be relocating to Los Angeles in time for the 2015 season, the possibilities for 2016 are very real. And though this week’s meetings don’t figure to offer anything definitive for any of the relocation candidates, the ball could get rolling in that direction.

Here’s a look at some things to keep an eye on from a Rams and St. Louis perspective this week:

1. No formal presentation from the St. Louis stadium group: Much like the March edition of the meetings, the St. Louis stadium task force will not be making a presentation to the owners here this week. Instead, the task force led by Dave Peacock, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and St. Louis mayor Francis Slay are planning to meet with Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber in St. Louis. In that meeting, it’s expected the sides will discuss making an MLS expansion team in St. Louis a possibility. The task force has long planned a possible MLS team as part of the pitch for the north riverfront stadium in an effort to guarantee more than the NFL’s 10 dates per year for the new venue. Peacock and Co. presented the proposal to the Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities in New York City a few weeks ago.

2. Open window?: If there’s going to be any “real” Los Angeles-related news to come out of these meetings, chances are that it will come in the form of the approval of an expedited window for teams to file for relocation for 2016. In a normal year, teams are not able to file the paperwork for relocation until after the season. For example, this year, the window was open from Jan. 1 to Feb. 15. Of course, no teams filed because of a directive from the NFL, which was dealing with bigger issues at the time. At the March meetings, the owners and commissioner Roger Goodell discussed the possibility of allowing teams to start filing for relocation this fall. How much earlier that window opens remains to be seen, but it’s likely we’ll get that question answered in the next three days.

3. Up to speed: Even though the St. Louis stadium group won’t be presenting during these meetings, that doesn’t mean their proposal won’t be seen by the owners. The same is true of both the Inglewood and Carson plans as well as anything that might be stirring in San Diego and Oakland. Although it hasn’t been made official, the most likely scenario is the aforementioned Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities and/or an NFL executive like Eric Grubman presents the proposals to the rest of the group. Since they will be present, it’s also likely that Rams owner Stan Kroenke will speak on behalf of the Inglewood project in some fashion and representatives from the Chargers and/or Raiders will do the same for the Carsoon project. The Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities was privy to the presentations made in New York City and would provide a logical starting point for getting the rest of the owners up to speed. The owners got a tiny glimpse of what’s going on in all four markets in March but should get a much better idea of progress this time around.