Indianapolis Colts Owner Jim Irsay Says the NFL’s Return to L.A. is Inevitable

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay believes that the NFL will inevitably move back to Los Angeles.

"It's not a matter of 'if' now, but 'when,'" Irsay said to the San Francisco Chronicle after Wednesday's NFL annual owners' meeting.

In response to Irsay's assessment, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, "I don't think it's inevitable. There is certainly momentum."

Irsay is not the only one that thinks a team will return to L.A. San Francisco 49ers Chief Executive Jed York stated that as of right now, L.A. is the most attractive location in comparison to the other cities throughout the country.

York said, "I don't think they're in the same position as Los Angeles. If I was going to handicap it, I think L.A. is much further along than any of the home markets at this point."

Three NFL teams have announced plans to move to LA. St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke revealed plans in January to build a stadium in Inglewood. Shortly after Kroenke's announcement, two California teams, the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders, expressed their interest in building a joint stadium in Carson. The Chargers and Raiders reportedly hired Carmen Policy to head the campaign for the proposed $1.7 billion stadium.

Policy, who was a former executive for the 49ers, has worked on the campaign to get a stadium built in Hunter's Point.

"He always loves being a part of stuff like this and I think he's excited for the challenge," York said about Policy. "This isn't something he needs to do financially. This is what he does. And this is what he loves."

York added that even though the 49ers stadium is built for two teams, no NFL team has expressed interest in sharing the location.

"We'll always have just regular conversations (with the Raiders)," York said. "They obviously know what the building looks like and what it is. For us, I'm always very clear: The deal with Santa Clara was not specific to another specific team. It was for a second tenant. A second tenant could come in if they wanted to. To date, nobody has really expressed an interest in being that second tenant at Levi's Stadium."

If a team moves to Inglewood or Carson, the NFL will reportedly try to bring the 2020 Super Bowl to L.A.