St. Louis won. Oakland likely will lose. San Diego becomes the rubber match.
The three cities that lost NFL teams in recent years have sued the league. A taxpayer suit filed in San Diego, via CBS8.com, goes to court on July 29.
The league has filed a motion to dismiss the complained, filed on January 24, in San Diego. The hearing is set to happen at the end of the month.
The case is based on the successful St. Louis effort to turn a “without merit” claim into a $790 million settlement. The league’s threshold defense to the San Diego case focuses on the fact that a taxpayer has no standing to sue, and that the City of San Diego waited too long to take action.
As explained when the rumblings of litigation first emerged, the litigation felt like an effort to expose the failure of the San Diego government to act on what could have been a very viable breach of contract action, based on the league’s relocation policies.
In other words, if the league wins quickly, it will have nothing to do with whether they violated the rights of San Diego. It will have everything to do with the fact that the powers-that-be in San Diego may have missed the boat.