NFL forms Los Angeles committee, sends memo to league

The NFL has formed a committee to make sure that any team that plans to relocate to Los Angeles executes the move according to league protocol, the Los Angeles Timesreports.

The LA Times published a memo from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, which announced the creation of the "Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities." According to the memo, the committee is made up of NFL owners Clark Hunt (Kansas City), Robert Kraft (New England), John Mara (New York Giants), Bob McNair (Houston), Jerry Richardson (Carolina) and Art Rooney (Pittsburgh).

From theLos Angeles Times:

[The] group of owners had been working together for months on the L.A. issue, but had not been formally identified as a committee.

The newly formed committee will "evaluate the various stadium options available in Los Angeles, oversee the application of the relocation guidelines in the event that one or more clubs seek to move to Los Angeles, ensure proper coordination with other standing committees … and confirm that all steps taken in Los Angeles are consistent with the Constitution and Bylaws and NFL policies."

The memo also reminds the teams that the league, and not an individual team, will make the final decision if a team will relocate to L.A.

"Any decision to resume NFL team operations in Los Angeles will require multiple approvals from NFL ownership, which can only be granted by a three-fourths vote of the club."

Three NFL teams, the St. Louis Rams, San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders, all have year-to-year leases in the stadiums they play in.

Los Angeles has not had an NFL team since the Rams and Raiders left after the 1994 season.

In January, the LA Timesreported that Rams owner Stan Kroenke has plans to build a stadium in a L.A. suburb, where his team could move as soon as 2016.

Teams that want to relocate have to apply between Jan. 1 and Feb. 15 of the year they want to move.

- Sarah Barshop