With not one but three NFL teams interested in relocating for the first time since the Browns moved to Baltimore in 1996 and became the Ravens, the NFL plans to alter the current procedures for submitting the paperwork requesting the blessing to make like a tree and get out of here.
According to Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal, the league will inform owners on Wednesday that the window will shrink from its current duration of six weeks -- and that the window may open sooner than it currently does.
For now, teams have from January 1 through February 15 to apply for relocation. Although the 2015 regular season doesn’t end until Sunday, January 3, the three teams linked to relocation speculation finish their slate of home games well before that. The Rams play their final game in St. Louis on Thursday, December 17, the Chargers play their final game in San Diego on Sunday, December 20, and the Raiders play their final game in Oakland on Christmas Eve. By Christmas Day, all three will be free and clear to file the paperwork that would thereafter make it hard for any of those teams to play at home.
Unless any of them are hosting playoff games in January 2016. Which would make the relocation process a lot more awkward, to say the least.
