Kroenke’s Rams to face Chargers, Raiders for L.A

The Oakland Raiders have officially filed an application to relocate the franchise to the Los Angeles area.

“The applications will be presented for consideration at next week’s league meeting in Houston on Tuesday and Wednesday”, the statement said.

The relocation of a franchise requires a yes vote by three-quarters of the National Football League clubs (24 of 32).

The Chiefs (11-5) actually clinched a wild-card spot with one week left in the season, then beat the Oakland Raiders on Sunday to secure the No. 5 seed.

The Chargers submitted a statement announcing the decision.

While owner Mark Davis has expressed interest in staying in Oakland, the city has yet to come up with a firm financing plan to build a new stadium.

Not unexpectedly, the San Diego Chargers applied for relocation to Los Angeles today, on the first day that they could.

If only one team will move, it likely would be the Rams moving to Inglewood or the Chargers moving to Carson.

What the league is left with, essentially, is a three-team, two-stadium race to a market in which there is room for just two teams and one stadium.

But with their 23-17 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday, the Chiefs managed to keep their unprecedented roll going into their playoff opener in Houston next weekend. To win the AFC West for the first time since 2010, the Chiefs only needed the Denver Broncos to lose to the San Diego Chargers – a game that was still underway at the conclusion of the Chiefs’ game.

Last week, the three markets responded to the NFL’s request for their best and final stadium solutions. It’s a particularly busy time, as five of the six men on the L.A. committee own teams in the playoffs, and the sixth, New York Giants co-owner John Mara, accepted the resignation Monday of longtime coach Tom Coughlin.

Oakland has expressed interest in building a new stadium for the Raiders at the Coliseum site but has no funding plan as of yet.

In Houston, owners will review the relocation guidelines and initially decide whether a team even qualifies for relocation.

Kansas City’s defense sacked Carr for the sixth time to help put the game away. And while it’s clear that one team’s superiority over the next was evident, the lack of adjustments by Del Rio and his staff prevented the Raiders from completing their comeback.

It was the final game of Charles Woodson’s sterling 18-year career, and came in the same stadium where Oakland’s star defensive back made his debut. It will be interesting to see which team garners the most support from the owners though as this relocation process moves forward for all three teams.