NFL Owners OK'd Lease Agreement Between Rams, Chargers, Clearing Way for Possible Move

LOS ANGELES, CA -- The question of whether the Chargers will be moving to Los Angeles is still up in the air, but the NFL has cleared at least one major hurdle.

At a meeting between NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL owners Wednesday, a lease agreement between the Chargers and Rams was approved. The deal that allowed the Rams to move from St. Louis back to Los Angeles this year also contained a clause that would allow the Chargers to share a new stadium being built in Inglewood with the Rams.

Chargers owner Dean Spanos, however, has remained steadfast that he will not announce any decision on whether to move until after Jan. 1, the date of the team’s last game of the season. He has until Jan. 15 to announce whether the team is moving to Los Angeles.

The owners also reportedly approved a measure that would help the Chargers pay the $250 million relocation cost.

“Relocations are painful and something we want to avoid at all costs,” Goodell said after the owners meeting.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, however, won't let the Chargers leave without a fight. He talked the Goodell on Tuesday, the eve of the NFL owners meeting. Details of the conversation, however, were not released.

The conversation comes on the heels of news that some members of the San Diego City Council sent a letter to Chargers owner Dean Spanos, Goodell and owners of all the other NFL teams this week offering to lease the Qualcomm Stadium site in Mission Valley -- the current site of Qualcomm stadium -- for $1 a year.

-- City News Service contributed to this report, photo courtesy of the San Diego Chargers