A day after the latest flurry of developments regarding the NFL’s inevitable return to Los Angeles, Glen Walker of KTLA took it to the next level.
Walker reported Thursday that the NFL will announce in August that the Rams will return to Los Angeles.
In response, multiple reports have shot down Walker’s report. Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times did it more generally, with this tweet: “You might hear some reports that the NFL has already decided the LA site/team(s). There is a scientific word for reports like these: Bogus.”
Even if the Rams will eventually be returning to L.A., the NFL surely won’t be announcing that in August. As of August, the Rams would still have a full season to play in St. Louis. After the mess than unfolded in Cleveland when the Browns announced in November a plan to move to Baltimore, the NFL learned that these issues can’t come to a head when a team still has games left to play in its current town.
Besides, the NFL is committed to its formal relocation process. The window to apply for relocation won’t open until late in the 2015 season, at the earliest. Then, the application must be considered and approved, before a move can be announced.
None of that will happen by August. Which means that there’s no way the NFL will announce that the Rams or anyone will be moving to Los Angeles in August.