Now that the 2009 NFL season is officially over for all of the non-playoff contending teams, the financial backers of the multi-million dollar Los Angeles Stadium Project have amped up their efforts to recruit, bid for, and relocate an NFL franchise to the Los Angeles area.

Majestic Realty’s managing partner John Semcken came out recently with a statement specifically identifying their first two targets in this new invigorated relocation campaign:  The Buffalo Bills and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Both of these teams meet a set of monetary and performance indicators that make them suitable and willing candidates for a possible transfer to the West Coast:  both franchises are underperforming financially, they’re both located in small media markets with limited national exposure and funding, and they both have virtually no chance of getting new, expanded, or updated stadium contracts anytime soon.

There have even been widespread rumors on more than one occasion that the Buffalo franchise is unofficially for sale and that the Bills could be acquired lock, stock, and barrel for the right price.  Lending credence to these rumors is the the fact that Buffalo has even started to play some of their home games in Toronto in an effort to expand their fan-base beyond the limited confines of upstate New York and gauge potential outside interest in the team.

With the Stadium Project’s previous contention that it would be a necessity to obtain a controlling interest in whichever NFL franchise agrees to relocate to Los Angeles, Buffalo would seemingly fit the bill in all regards.

Also meeting the Los Angeles financiers’ specific requirements for relocation are the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Like Buffalo, Jacksonville has been struggling amid stiff competition with other in-state rival teams for local attention, funds, and fanbase.  One of a number of monetarily underperforming franchises, Jacksonville has consistently faced local media blackouts due to insufficient attendance at games and they have no real prospects at increasing their profitability without some kind of new or updated stadium (which is a virtual impossibility) or a potential relocation to a larger market like the one Los Angeles offers.

With the Bills and the Jaguars meeting all of their ideal preset requirements, Majestic Realty has singled them out as the top two priorities from the list of the seven original franchises that were targeted for relocation: a list that still also includes the Minnesota Vikings, San Diego Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, and St. Louis Rams.

While the Stadium Project’s plan is to exhaust all possible avenues with Jacksonville and Buffalo before seriously pursuing negotiations with any of the other remaining five franchises, that approach could quickly and easily change with the alteration of some of the surrounding circumstances.

The NFL owners recently voted to void the continuation of the league’s revenue sharing policy, meaning smaller market, lower earning teams will face even further financial burden and strain starting in 2010 because they’ll no longer be subsidized by the big ticket, top dollar squads.

This will cause the potential loss of millions upon millions of dollars for lesser NFL franchises, especially those like the Minnesota Vikings who were one of the program’s biggest financial benefactors.

With an estimated loss of between five and twenty million dollars in annual revenue from the program, the Vikings ownership has recently been provided with a huge motivating factor to consider entering into the relocation sweepstakes for a possible move to Los Angeles.

And since the Minnesota organization is in the bottom echelon of earning and attendance, located within a small market which has a stadium contract expiring in 2011 and no real replacement in place, the Vikings meet all of Majestic Realty’s preset requirements as well.

However, since Minnesota is still currently involved in live game action in the playoffs, the franchise would likely be unable and unwilling to risk entering into costly relocation negotiations that could affect income and attendance figures in the post season.  Thus, the Stadium Project would be wise to wait until Minnesota has been eliminated from playoff contention before expanding the list of targeted priority franchises to three.

Even the San Diego Chargers still remain a viable back-up plan and dark horse candidate if no deal can be reached with the top three most likely options.  Obtaining the Chargers however would require a substantial buyout to release them from their current stadium’s contractual obligations, and this significant extra investment of capital would probably only be considered if all of the more cost-effective relocation efforts with other franchises reached an impasse.

While the steam may finally have picked up on the football front in Los Angeles and the field is finally being narrowed to a select and realistic few, there’s still plenty of work to be done and plenty of stumbling blocks to avoid before the return of the National Football League to Los Angeles once again becomes a reality.

But it’s getting close.