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According to Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal (subscription required), the NFL and its owners have settled on a Los Angeles relocation fee of at least $500 million dollars, with the possibility that it could go as high as $600 million. Some speculation last year indicated the relocation fee would be at least $250 million, while recent speculation indicated it could be as high as $1 billion.
By any measure, this is a ton of money. As Jill Lieber Steeg pointed out in this tweet:
#NFL Relocation fee reportedly $500M. #Raiders #Chargers owners likely don't have the cash. Paying off over time = $1M a week for 10 years
— Jill Lieber Steeg (@JillLieberSteeg) November 16, 2015
One important note about the relocation fee is that it is not paid up front in a large sum. However, there is some question as to how long the payment period would last.
A shorter payment plan benefits Rams owner Stan Kroenke, as he has much more cash and assets available to pay toward a short fee schedule.
A longer payment plan benefits Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Raiders owner Mark Davis, who (if they are granted relocation to Los Angeles) would not have that amount of money or assets to move until after they have relocated to Los Angeles and tapped into the increased revenue streams.
As we've covered over the last several months, Kroenke is proposing a new stadium for the Rams in Inglewood.
Meanwhile, Spanos and Davis are proposing a new stadium for the Chargers and Raiders in Carson. Last week, in another of Chargers' Special Counsel Mark Fabiani's adroitly timed announcements, the Chargers and Raiders announced that current Disney CEO Bob Iger would take control of the Carson Stadium project should their relocation bid for Los Angeles be approved by NFL owners.
The announcement regarding Iger came the same morning as San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and San Diego's stadium negotiating team made their presentation to a large contingent of NFL owners in New York regarding a stadium in Mission Valley. According to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, in this interview with Mighty 1090's Dan Sileo, Faulconer and his team had the best presentation - leading to some speculation by Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune that a decision in Los Angeles could be delayed long enough to accommodate a public vote in San Diego in June.