This week the Los Angeles city council approved the plans to build an NFL caliber stadium in downtown Los Angeles in hopes of luring an NFL team back to the city.
There is a catch however.
The city council will not let Anschutz Entertainment Group break ground on construction for the new stadium until a deal with an NFL team is in place.
Nonetheless, Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com broke down a list of seven potential tenants for the new stadium, which has already secured naming rights from Farmers Insurance.
- Both the San Diego Chargers and the St. Louis Rams seem to be the most likely teams to move to Los Angeles. Both of these teams seem to make the most sense considering the Rams played in LA from 1946 to 1994 and they currently play in a division where the three other teams reside in the Pacific Time Zone. San Diego will still stay in Southern California just go to a bigger market.
- The Minnesota Vikings continue to remain a possibility as well. However with each passing day it seems more probable that they get a new stadium deal in Minneapolis.
- Could the 49ers leave the Bay Area or could Oakland make a return to LA? They are named on Markazi’s list however rumor has it that there may be a plan in the works to build a shared stadium between the 49ers and Raiders in the Bay Area.
- The Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars will continue to be named in relocation rumors considering their current small markets. However, Jags owner Wayne Weaver and Bills owner Ralph Wilson seem dug in on the idea of keeping their teams in place.
Overall I believe a return to LA by the NFL is a bad idea considering they’ve already had two other chances to get the NFL to work and it never has.
Source: ESPN