National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday the league is weighing options for a possible return of a team to Los Angeles, but no definitive plans are in place.
“There have been no determinations of us going to Los Angeles, any particular team going to Los Angeles or going to any particular stadium,” Goodell said during a Phoenix news conference in advance of Sunday’s Super Bowl. “We have several alternatives that we’re evaluating, … there are teams that are interested but are trying to work their interests out locally.
“And so as a league we haven’t gotten to that stage yet, and they (teams) would all be subject to relocation policy requirements.”
Interest in a possible NFL team returning to Los Angeles was heightened earlier this month when St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke announced plans to build an 80,000-seat sports stadium as part of the redevelopment of the former Hollywood Park racetrack in Inglewood. Developers involved in the deal insisted that the plans did not mean the Rams would be moving back to the Southland, where the team played until 1994.
Goodell noted, however, that the league wants “all of our franchises to stay in their current markets.”
“That’s a shared responsibility, that’s something that we all have to work together on,” Goodell said. “The league has programs, including stadium- funding programs, that we make available. And we will work and help with the communities, including St. Louis.”
Goodell also noted that officials in St. Louis “seem determined to build a stadium” to keep the team.
“That’s a positive development, something that we look forward to working on with them,” he said.
— City News Service