In the 20 years since two NFL teams left Los Angeles, it has never seemed more likely than it does right now that the NFL will be returning to L.A. But it currently seems to be very likely, to the point that one of the league’s most influential owners believes two teams will move to Los Angeles in 2016.
“I really believe within the next year we’ll have two teams in [the L.A.] market,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft said Monday, via Mark Maske of the Washington Post. “I think there are good plans. . . . We have some real good options. And now we’ll see what happens in the end game.”
Kraft was careful to point out that he’s not speaking on behalf of the league at large.
“I’m just speaking what I believe,” Kraft said. “There might just be one team. But I really think to support the financial commitment of doing the kind of stadium that’s necessary in L.A., you need the resources of two teams. That’s just my feeling. I might be wrong. And then whether it’s done simultaneously or not — personally I feel that would be the best way. . . . It could happen that one would come in later. But I would like to see it be simultaneous.”
Two different projects currently are competing for the privilege of hosting one or two teams. The Chargers and Raiders would play in Carson; the Rams and possibly another team would play in Inglewood.