The past couple years, and the next few years are offering up one last major wave of relocation. The Rams moved from St. Louis to Los Angeles, the Chargers are moving from San Diego to Los Angeles this offseason, and the Raiders are set to move from Oakland to Las Vegas in the next couple years. Relocation will happen again at some point, but after the Raiders move, expansion seems more likely than relocation.
The decisions to relocate is going to be pricey for the three teams moving, but a cash infusion for the rest of the NFL. ESPN’s Darren Rovell is reporting that the 29 NFL teams not moving will each receive a gross total of $55.2 million over the next 11 years. Each team will pay taxes on it like normal revenue, but they will not have to share the money with the players as part of the revenue sharing pot.
The Rams and Chargers are each paying $645 million over the next ten years, while the Raiders are paying $378 million over ten years beginning in the year they move to Las Vegas. The Rams and Chargers relocation fee will be split among the other 30 teams, including the Raiders. The Raiders relocation fee will go to the other 31 teams, including the Rams and Chargers.
That comes out to roughly $5 million per year for the next 11 years for each team that is simply added to the bottom line of revenue. I realize I’ve harped on this a bit, but maybe the 49ers could use that to subsidize cutting the price of soda, beer, and hot dogs?