NFL Returns to City of Los Angeles, Rams Say Goodbye to St. Louis

For the first time in more than 20 years, there will be an NFL team in the city of Los Angeles.

NFL owners have voted in favor of allowing the St. Louis Rams to come back to the city for the 2016 season. The 30-2 vote comes after years of discussions and failed plans between developers, Los Angeles mayors and other powerful businessmen.

Although the move has been in the works for years, Rams owner, Stan Kroenke, stated that departing from St. Louis will be "bittersweet."

"We understand the emotions involved with our fans," Kroenke said reported by the Los Angeles Times. "It's not easy to do these things. It's purposefully made hard."

The San Diego Chargers have been given a one-year option to join the Rams. If the Chargers do not choose to move by January 2017, the one-year option will go to the Oakland Raiders.

Chargers owner Dean Spanos said during the news conference that he would have to think about the offer.

"You know, I'm going to try to take a day off," Spanos said. "This has really been excruciating for everyone. I'm going to look at all our options. ... It's very difficult to say right now I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that."

"This is not a win for the Raiders today, but at the same time I'm really happy for Stan Kroenke," Raiders owner Mark Davis said. "We'll be working really hard to find us a home. ... Don't feel bad. We'll get it right."

The discussions that led to the vote on Tuesday lasted from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Ram's new stadium will be located in the old Hollywood Park racetrack in Inglewood, which is 10 miles away from downtown Los Angeles. The stadium, which will be the largest one in the league based on square footage, is expected to open in 2019 and has a projected price tag near $3 billion.

"We realized this was our opportunity," Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner, said.

Goodell believes that the stadium would change "not just NFL stadiums and NFL complexes but sports complexes around the world."

In the meantime, the Rams will most likely place at the Los Angeles Coliseum. There are no details regarding where the Chargers would play if they accept the offer to move to Los Angeles.

"With the NFL returning home, Los Angeles cements itself as the epicenter of the sports world," the current mayor of the city, Eric Garcetti, said. "We cannot wait to welcome the Rams, and perhaps others soon, as they join a storied lineup of professional franchises, collegiate powerhouses, and sports media companies."

The fee to move an NFL team is $550 million. A source is saying, reported by ESPN's Jim Trotter that Kroenke will be paying it in a lump sum as opposed to 10 yearly payments of $64 million.

The Rams had played in Los Angeles for 49 years from 1946 to 1994.