National Football League

Raiders coach surprised L.A. has been without an NFL team for so long

Published May. 17, 2015 12:39 a.m. ET

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At his induction into the USC Hall of Fame on Saturday, Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio spoke in support of Los Angeles as an NFL city.

"I think this is a great marketplace and that would make sense for teams to be here," the USC alum said.

Inglewood or Carson -- one of the two cities will be the likely landing spot if an NFL team decides to relocate to Los Angeles. The city councils in the respective cities already have approved stadiums plans. The NFL even heard proposals from each city last month.

St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke and officials of the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers are expected to make "comments about what they see happening in their home markets," according to Sam Farmer of the L.A. Times.

Kroenke, of course, is spearheading the Inglewood project, while the Raiders and Chargers have joined forces to share a stadium in Carson.

Of the three teams vying to land in Los Angeles, the Raiders appear to be the team furthest from the reality of getting a new stadium in its current market.

"With the Raiders, in my talks with (owner) Mark Davis, he's always intimated that his first hope would be to stay right where we are," Del Rio said.

Del Rio has both northern-and-southern California roots. He grew up in Hayward, south of Oakland. He left the Bay Area to play at USC in 1981, one year before the Raiders left Oakland for Los Angeles. It wasn't for long, though.

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Both the Rams and Raiders left L.A. following the 1994 season, which has left the Los Angeles market without an NFL team for over two decades now.

"It's surprising to me," Del Rio said of there not being an NFL team in L.A., "When you see how many people here with the ability to come support a team, how many people live here, how much passion it is for football, I would think it would be a natural fit."

The question remains will that fit be the Raiders and Chargers in Carson? Or the Rams in Inglewood? Or a combination of the two? Or L.A. is left out in the cold, again?