CARSON — Word of advice for all the fans out their rooting for the NFL to return to Los Angeles: Get the popcorn, grab a comfy seat on the sofa and settle in for a wild ride.

We are headed for a crazy finish, to say the least.

The good news is Los Angeles will soon have pro football back for the fist time in 20 years. Most likely by 2016.

What’s undecided is who the team — or teams — will be, exactly.

Last month it looked like it might be the St. Louis Rams after owner Stan Kroenke announced he was teaming with a California-based developer to build a football stadium on the site of the old Hollywood Park race track.

Back home in St. Louis, local leaders went into scramble mode to get a new stadium deal in place to keep the Rams in Missouri. But the Rams’ lukewarm reaction indicated a strong desire to bolt to L.A.

Welcome back, Rams.

Now we can’t be sure.

Kroenke didn’t exactly pull the trigger on a starter’s gun with the explosive bombshell he dropped, but he might as well have.

The result was a chain reaction felt all the way from Missouri to San Diego to Oakland. And now that the Raiders and Chargers have announced a partnership to build a shared stadium in Carson, we have a high-stakes race on our hands in which unlikely alliances have been forged, the football fate of four cities hanging in the balance and the NFL unable sit back and let the chips fall where they may.

Read full column here.

Raider fans showed up. Press conference in Carson to announce stadium proposal to lure two NFL teams to the city. (Photo by Brad Graverson/The Daily Breeze)