Fans of the Rams hoping to see the franchise return to Los Angeles sometime in the near future flocked to Oxnard, CA last week to watch the team take part in joint practices with the Dallas Cowboys. While nothing is yet set in stone where the potential relocation of the currently St. Louis-based Rams to the cozy confines of Southern California is concerned, it seems fans hopeful of seeing the team return from whence it came may have a seemingly small, but really quite important factor working in their favor, per Peter King of MMQB.com.
According to King, Rams owner Stan Kroenke's stadium initiative in Inglewood may have a leg up on the competition - Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis and San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos' joint venture in Carson - due to the inclusion of a new facility for NFL Network employees in his venue blueprints.
"Regarding the NFL's future in Los Angeles, one of the things several owners are very bullish on is how Rams owner Kroenke is throwing the league a low-cost life preserver for NFL Network, NFL.com and related NFL digital properties," reports King. "There's an expansive plan for a new facility and multi-purpose theater at the stadium complex in Inglewood that Kroenke is planning. NFL Network is currently crammed into its facility in nearby Culver City, and I talked to one owner who believes Kroenke's multi-million-dollar savior plan for the network and the league's digital enterprise will be a big factor in what the league decides to do with the Los Angeles market."
King went on to say that from what he can tell Kroenke's plan is the "preferred route" of the league's 31 other owners and that if things come to fruition in this manner, the San Diego Chargers would likely join the Rams in Los Angeles as the second team in the venue.
For weeks now it's been reported that Kroenke's Inglewood plan is farther along and making better progress than Davis and Spanos' Carson project. While, as King notes, nothing is yet confirmed and there remains ample hurdles before anything is certain, it seems like the Los Angeles Rams may very well be making a comeback sometime in the not-too-distant future.
