The St. Louis Rams will head to the L.A.-area to play in a new stadium to be built in Inglewood, California, the NFL Network tweeted on Tuesday following a meeting of NFL team owners in Houston, Texas.
The San Diego Chargers still have the option to move, and are being allowed until through Jan. 16, 2017, to make a decision, according to ESPN analyst Adam Scheftler.
The Oakland Raiders have bowed out of a move, though the team may have an option if the Chargers opt to remain in San Diego.
The Rams, Chargers and Oakland Raiders had all been vying to relocate to the country’s second-largest media market in time for the 2016 season. Any move needed affirmative votes from 24 team owners. The league has 32 teams, and requires a 75 percent approval for such a major market shift.
In the end, the Rams’ move was agreed to by a secret vote of 30-2.
The question still remains when and if the Chargers will join the Rams in their new home. There is still a vote scheduled in San Diego in June to discuss funding $350 million for a new stadium there.
“The Chargers have been approved to relocate to L.A. at the Inglewood location at anytime in the next year,” owner Dean Spanos said in a press conference Tuesday evening.
Rams owner Stan Kroenke has proposed to build a $1.86 billion stadium in Inglewood, which is located southwest of downtown Los Angeles. The Lakers and the Kings played at the Forum in Inglewood until both teams moved to Staples Center in 2000. In 2014, Kroenke bought a 60-acre tract in the area, and he later added land where the old Hollywood Park Racetrack stood. Last January, he announced plans to build a domed stadium surrounded by an entertainment district.
The Rams have agreed to pay the league a relocation fee of $650 million, stretched out over about 20 years. The team will most likely play at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (home of the USC Trojans) until their new stadium is built, which is projected to be in 2019.
The Chargers and Raiders proposal, which included Disney CEO Bob Iger as a consultant, set its sights on a stadium in Carson, a city located 13 miles south of downtown L.A.
The Raiders previously played in L.A. from 1982-1994, before moving back up to Northern California to return to Oakland, where the team was founded in 1960.
The Rams also played in the City of Angels from 1946-1979 at the Coliseum, before moving to Anaheim from 1980-1994, and then to St.Louis, Missouri.
Meanwhile, the Chargers were actually founded in Los Angeles in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League, but quickly headed south to San Diego the following year and have played there ever since.
The other current hot-button NFL rights issue surrounds the future of the “Thursday Night Football” package.
CBS has shared the schedule with the NFL Network for the past two years, but those rights expired at the end of the current regular season. The package was up for grabs, and the league asked interested networks to present bids both for exclusivity, and for a shared option that would split the Thursday schedule up between a few channels.
The NFL Network needs to keep eight games to maintain its current carriage rates.
TheWrap discussed both rights and scheduling possibilities on Tuesday with CBS Sports Boss Sean McManus; read that conversation here.
See the NFL Network’s coverage of the Rams’ move below.
Rams to relocate to Inglewood, CA.
Chargers have option to join them.
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— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) January 13, 2016