It Could Be Moving Experience for Any One of These Teams

The NFL has rules prohibiting teams from moving while still attached to a stadium lease. Any team that wants to move must gain 24 votes from the league’s owners, unless Al Davis threatens a lawsuit and does as he pleases.

Teams rumored to be considering relocating if they fail to get new stadiums include:

* Arizona: The owner no one wants in Bill Bidwill, but who would have the easiest time moving. The Cardinals just signed a five-year lease extension to Sun Devil Stadium after a $1.8-billion convention center-stadium project in Mesa was soundly rejected in a referendum. There is a loophole so big in the Cardinals’ lease, said someone familiar with the team’s arrangement, that “you could drive a Mack truck through it,” allowing Bidwill to move his team any time.

* Oakland: Anyone who gets the idea of sitting across the table from Al Davis to negotiate a stadium deal should spend a week in the Irwindale gravel pit. The Raiders have 10 years remaining on their lease in Oakland but have sued the city, asking for their freedom because of claims the city never fulfilled its promises. There were settlement talks earlier between the two sides, but Oakland stands to lose more than $100 million if it allows the Raiders to leave.

* Minnesota: The Vikings are tied up until 2011, but new owner Red McCombs has said his team must have a new financing plan in place for a new stadium by the end of the year or the Vikings will be unable to compete financially in the NFL. A St. Paul referendum for a new baseball stadium next month is considered a litmus test for trying a similar measure to secure a football stadium, but voters are expected to reject the baseball stadium.

* New Orleans: The Saints were the leading contenders to land in Houston if the expansion team went to Los Angeles. Owner Tom Benson’s Superdome lease expires in 2018, but beginning in 2006 he can pay $1 million a year for every year remaining on the lease and go elsewhere. There are also other provisions that might provide for an earlier exit, if Benson is so inclined.

* Buffalo: The Bills just signed a 15-year lease but after five years will be free to buy their way out for $20 million. There has been talk that 81-year-old owner Ralph Wilson might be interested in selling his team, fearful that estate taxes after his death will force its sale. But Wilson said Wednesday he’s as excited as ever about the Bills’ prospects and is going nowhere.