NFL Insider: “I would bet against San Diego and Oakland.”

Bleacher Report and NFL insider Jason Cole was on 980 The Beast this morning talking about the prospects of the NFL returning to Los Angeles.

In a nutshell, Cole cast serious doubts on the prospects of San Diego and Oakland coming up with viable stadium plans to appease the Chargers and Raiders, who announced a partnership last week to build a stadium in Carson.

The Carson plan is contingent on their current cities dropping the ball on new stadium deals, and Cole thinks it’s unlikely either San Diego or Oakland has the wherewithal to put together viable plans.

If so, the Chargers and Raiders become very likely candidates to wind up in Los Angeles. Provided, of course, the Carson proposal ascends from plan to reality over the next year or so.

Of course, the St. Louis Rams are also in the picture, with Rams owner Stan Kroenke recently announcing a partnership with a California land developer to build an 80,000-seat stadium in Inglewood.

Talk about a log jam.

It’s highly unlikely all three teams end up in the Los Angeles area, and with the NFL coordinating the process and setting strict guidelines relative to Los Angeles relocation, this will come down to far more than a team or teams simply wanting to move here.

If Cole is correct about San Diego and Oakland’s inability to build new stadiums, it would appease one of the NFL’s key relocation guidelines in which teams show they’ve run out of viable options in their current cities.

On the other hand, while St. Louis appears better positioned to present the Rams with a new stadium plan, there is growing opposition in Missouri to Governor Jay Nixon’s push to seek state-wide public assistance to get it done.

“Obviously, nobody wants to see the NFL leave one of our major cities,” Sen. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City told local reporters. “Don’t misunderstand that. I don’t think it’s ever a good thing when you lose a major sports franchise. The question is, what does it cost to the state to keep them versus what it would cost the state to lose them?”

In fact, Silvey recently introduced legislation to require a General Assembly vote or a vote of the people to extend existing bonds or issue new bonds – including ones for the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority. This followed Office of Administration director Doug Nelson telling lawmakers that Nixon could extend bonds without a legislative or public vote.

If Silvey’s bill goes through, that throws a serious monkey wrench in St. Louis’ stadium hopes. That could mean the Rams proving justification for relocation as well.

That doesn’t mean three teams moving to Los Angeles, necessarily, but the NFL might find itself in a serious pickle if St. Louis, San Diego and Oakland don’t come up with stadium plans to keep their teams.

And fast.