Could NFL push back LA relocation until 2017?

With Oakland, San Diego, and St Louis all fighting a battle with Los Angeles to be the more attractive option for their respective NFL clubs, there has been one major question that lingers - what if all three cities' teams head to LALA land?

Up to this point, that question has been answered with the prevailing thought that one of the teams is going to be left out. The NFL is hoping not to have to make that decision. The hope is that at least one of the cities can figure things out to keep their team, leaving no more than two teams relocating. But lately there is no indication if any of the three teams will get a deal done to remain in their current cities.

Rams owner Stan Kroenke appears dead set on moving his team back to Los Angeles, regardless of any efforts by St. Louis to keep their team. Meanwhile, the Raiders and Chargers continue to hit roadblocks in their attempts to stay in their home cities.

For the Raiders, it's mostly financial restraints, with the city being unwilling and/or unable to provide relief for the planned $900,000 stadium. Then there's the A's with their stubborn owner Lew Wolff squatting on the coliseum and telling the Raiders to get off his lawn. These issues have caused the development group in charge of the stadium plans, New City Development LLC, to try and get creative - attempts that thus far look to be headed for failure.

The idea the NFL might delay the relocation to LA another year comes from the San Diego Union Tribune which detailed the issues that have caused a stalemate in talks regarding their own stadium hopes. After several meetings in which the city, county, and the Chargers didn't even reach the negotiation phase, they have decided there is no point in continuing to meet.

These issues in each city have caused what the U-T says is speculation that at the NFL meetings August 11, they could decide to delay relocation by all three teams another year in the hopes at least one of the three cities can find a way to keep their team.

A delay would be good news for each of the cities looking to keep their teams, but could potentially be bad news for the Raiders and Chargers.

Stan Kroenke has been forging ahead with his Rams relocation plans since early this offseason and has already been busy preparing the ground for his stadium to be built in Inglewood. It's his bold moves that forced the Raiders and Chargers to purchase the land in Carson in an attempt to beat him to LA, should it come to that.

It's also the kind of bold move Raiders fans are more keen on than most fans considering that's just what Al Davis did when he left Oakland for LA in the early 80s at the behest of the NFL.

Another year delay would allow Kroenke to get well ahead in that race with the Raiders and Chargers who can't break ground in Carson until either team knows for sure they would be moving. If one of them gets a stadium deal done in their current city and the other does not, that team could very well share the stadium with the Rams in Inglewood.

One would hope such potential ramifications would be taken into consideration when/if the league decides on whether to move forward on LA relocation or delay it another year.

For now, the key word in all of this is "speculation". Though definitely worth considering as a possibility.

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