NFL meeting in August to discuss Raiders, Chargers and Rams stadium plans - Los Angeles Times
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NFL meeting in August to discuss Raiders, Chargers and Rams stadium plans

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NFL team owners will meet in Chicago on Aug. 11 to discuss the progress of stadium projects in Oakland, San Diego, St. Louis and NFL hopeful Los Angeles, according to NFL.com.

Those first three cities stand to lose the Raiders, Chargers and Rams, respectively, if they are unable to reach agreeable terms on new digs for their teams, all of which have already begun exploring other options in L.A.

The next owners meeting had been set for October, but with the potential for a franchise -- or three -- moving to L.A., an additional meeting has been scheduled.

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Rams owner Stan Kroenke in January revealed plans to build a $1.86-billion stadium in Inglewood, where Hollywood Park used to stand, to house his team instead of the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, which has lost its shine.

Also unhappy with their current situations, the Chargers and Raiders have teamed up on a joint, $1.7-billion stadium venture in Carson.

The very suggestion of moving to L.A. has put pressure on the teams’ current cities to come up with new detailed plans for the future, and now the NFL is checking in on said plans.

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St. Louis has a proposal for a $1-billion Mississippi riverfront stadium. The only problem lies in paying for the project. Missouri and St. Louis County still owe $100 million on the Rams’ current stadium and Gov. Jay Nixon is seeking an additional $250 million in funds from taxpayers to fund the new one.

In San Diego, the Chargers met with city officials earlier this week for the first time since the city unveiled a $1.1-billion project in Mission Valley to appease the Bolts, who could very well bolt.

There really hasn’t been much on the stadium front in Oakland.

Businessman Floyd Kephart has been assigned the task of coming up with a plan to secure $400 million of the estimated $900 million it would take to pay for a new stadium on the current site of Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

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Kephart hasn’t said exactly how that would be done, but he’s facing a June 21 deadline to come up with a plan. But if he fails that doesn’t mean Oakland is giving up.

“If a deal with Floyd Kephart doesn’t happen, we are open to other options,” Oakland-Alameda County Stadium Authority Executive Director Scott McKibben told ESPN. “And we are prepared to do quickly if that occurs.”

The earliest any team could move to L.A. would be 2016 and only then with the approval of three-quarters of the NFL owners.

For now, we’ll keep our eye on the clock.

Follow Matt Wilhalme on Twitter @mattwilhalme

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