NFL begins looking into Los Angeles relocation fees

As the NFL moves closer to a potential move back to Los Angeles, the league has started examining the potential cost of relocating the St. Louis Rams, Oakland Raiders, or San Diego Chargers.

While speaking at the spring owners meetings, NFL executive Eric Grubman said the league has hired an outside consulting firm to help determine what the relocation fees would be.

"We've engaged an outside firm to help us look at various ways to analyze it," Grubman said, via ESPN's Nick Wagoner. "That's not to say that our finance staff is not capable of doing any of the analysis, but sometimes it's good to have an independent mind take a look at it. And so we've engaged a firm to help us and the committee do that."

There has been speculation that relocating to Los Angeles could result in record-breaking fees, as moving into such a big market would automatically increase a franchise's value. Wagoner notes that some believe it could cost as much as $500 million to relocate the Rams.

At this point, the NFL is nowhere close to determining what that final fee will be.

"We are not very far along in that," Grubman said. "They are just sort of designing the analysis, and we're debating the different ways it can be looked at, and the different time frames it can be looked at. My best guess is that a relocation fee wouldn't be defined until well toward the end of the process."

Interested teams will know the exact cost before filing for relocation, though.

"Anybody's who's getting into it or asking for a vote would be understanding of what it is," Grubman said.