http://www.ocregister.com/articles/stadium-650742-angeles-city.html

LOS ANGELES – As multiple NFL teams weigh relocating to Los Angeles, league commissioner Roger Goodell has formed a committee of owners to examine the league’s stadium options in Southern California and oversee relocation guidelines, league sources said Monday.

While a group of owners including New England’s Robert Kraft has served in an advisory capacity to Goodell on NFL activities in Los Angeles for the past year, the formation of the Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities is further indication that the league anticipates one or more franchises seeking to relocate to the nation’s second-largest market as early as the 2016 season.

The move comes in the wake of last month’s announcement that a development group that includes Rams owner Stan Kroenke plans to build a $2 billion, 80,000-seat stadium on the site of Hollywood Park.

The league has also sent a memo to its 32 franchises confirming previous discussions and memoranda that any decision to relocate in Los Angeles will require multiple approvals by three-quarters of the league’s owners. Selection of a stadium site, the stadium’s lease and financing arrangements, debt ceiling and sharing waivers, relocation consent and terms and the awarding of Super Bowls are all subject to approval of the league’s owners, NFL teams were told.

Preserving the voting rights of the league’s teams will be a key responsibility for the Los Angeles committee. In addition to Kraft, the committee will include Clark Hunt of Kansas City, Art Rooney of Pittsburgh, John Mara of the N.Y. Giants, Jerry Richardson of Carolina and Bob McNair of Houston.

In addition to evaluating stadium location options and overseeing the application of relocation guidelines, the Los Angeles committee also will coordinate with NFL broadcasting, finance, stadium and management council executive committees.

Although Goodell said in December no team or teams would relocate to Los Angeles before the 2015 season, the Los Angeles situation has received increased attention within the league in recent months. NFL senior vice president Eric Grubman, the league’s point man on Los Angeles, told the Register recently he hopes the Los Angeles situation will be resolved before next year’s Super Bowl in Santa Clara. Los Angeles is expected to be a primary topic of discussion at the NFL meetings next month.

Kroenke and Rams officials believe they have enough votes to move the team to Inglewood if they choose to relocate, said a person familiar with the situation. Officials for the Hollywood Park Land Company, the project’s development group, said they hope to begin construction on the stadium in December or January. HPLC officials said the stadium would be ready for the 2018 NFL season.

The Anschutz Entertainment Group’s plans for Farmers Field, a downtown stadium adjacent to Staples Center, is also still being considered by the NFL, Grubman said. AEG received a six-month extension from the Los Angeles City Council last year, giving the company until March to secure a team for the stadium.

Rams officials informed the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission in January that they will convert their lease for the Edward Jones Dome to a year-by-year agreement, enabling the team to relocate after the 2015 season if Kroenke is able to secure approval from the league’s owners.

Inglewood city officials have told the Register they expect an initiative asking voters to approve plans for the Hollywood Park stadium to be on the ballot in time for a June 16 election. The Inglewood city council could also bypass an election and simply vote to fold the 60-acre stadium project into previously approved plans for a 238-acre retail, office and residential development at Hollywood Park. Whether approved by Inglewood voters or the city council, the initiative allows the stadium project to bypass environmental reviews that cost millions and months, possibly years, in delays.

The city hired CAJA Environmental Services LLC for $88,000 last month to conduct a report on the initiative. CAJA also consulted with the city on an environmental review of plans for the initial 238-acre retail project that was approved by the city in 2009.

The city council will also pay Keyser Marston Associates $33,000 to review fiscal and economic reports prepared for the stadium initiative.

Keyser Marston previously has been a consultant on Staples Center, San Diego’s Ballpark District and Levi Stadium, the 49ers’ new venue in Santa Clara.

The firm was also a financial advisor to the City of Walnut Creek on a development project that also involved Wilson Meany, a firm that was hired by the HPLD for the City of Champions development. In the Walnut Creek development, Keyser Marston structured a business agreement between the city and the developer and advised the city on negotiations with the developer.

Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. said he expected the environmental and fiscal reports to be completed in March.

Los Angeles county officials expect to complete the verification process of the more than 22,000 petition signatures asking the stadium issue be placed on the ballot by the end of the month.

In an effort to keep the Rams in St. Louis, a task force appointed by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon revealed plans for a nearly $1 billion, 64,000-seat downtown St. Louis stadium last month.

The St. Louis plan calls for between $460 million and $535 million of the new stadium’s cost to come from extending current bonds on the Edward Jones Dome and tax credits. Between $400 million and $450 million would be paid by the NFL and the Rams with the remaining $130 million coming from seat licenses.

The Raiders and Chargers, both with stadium issues in their current markets, are also weighing their options in terms of Los Angeles. Raiders owner Mark Davis joined forces with an investment firm and entertainment company last September in an attempt to raise $200 million to purchase the Hollywood Park site, according to documents circulated with Los Angeles financial and investment firms.

Contact the writer: sreid@ocregister.com