L.A. relocation story reminder of Jerry Jones' power among owners

If you ever wondered who the NFL's most powerful owner is, ESPN.com's behind-the-scenes story about the league's relocation to Los Angeles is a good place to start.

The answer, if you didn't know it already, is that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones likely finishes first in the owner power rankings. The ESPN report makes it clear that he was the most influential of the league's owners in making sure Rams owner Stan Kroenke's plan to move to Inglewood was the winner, even though that was up in the air until the last minute.

The entire story, written by Seth Wickersham and Don Van Natta, is worth your time if you care about what happens among the power brokers in the NFL. It's a complex story of alliances, double-crosses, hurt feelings and suspicions of league favoritism. It paints Kroenke as the aggressor in the L.A. story, and San Diego Chargers CEO Dean Spanos as the league loyalist who got the short end of the stick.

And Jones, it appears, had a huge say in steering the league toward the Inglewood plan that Kroenke had.

The story places the "new money" owners, led by Jones, on the side of the Inglewood plan and Kroenke. The "old money" owners wanted Carson, and Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson lobbied for that, going as far as flying to meet with some owners privately to garner support. Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger was brought in to run the Carson project, after Richardson met and talked with him a few times. The owners thought Iger's involvement might offset Kroenke's money, the ESPN story said.

Meanwhile, Jones was on the side of the Inglewood project and worked the phones with owners to pitch the idea of the Rams and Chargers sharing a stadium there. That would place the Chargers as the Rams' tenants, basically. Jones encouraged Kroenke to pledge to allow a partner in the new stadium, which he did, ESPN said.

The story tells many of the ins and outs of the sometimes acrimonious dealings that were happening behind the scenes, including a few instances in which it seemed the NFL, led in this effort by league executive Eric Grubman, seemed to openly prefer the Rams relocating to Los Angeles. A key figure throughout, however, is Jones.

Jones delivered an eight-minute speech at an owners meeting last August, ESPN said, supporting Kroenke and punctuating it by hilariously saying the first owner back to Los Angeles had to have "big balls."

Still, when the owners met in January, the Los Angeles committee recommended Carson by a 5-1 vote. ESPN's story said that after that recommendation, some owners were so sure Carson would win that they checked out of their hotel rooms. But when the first secret ballot was taken, the proposal of the Rams and Chargers sharing Inglewood — which Jones pushed for — won by a 21-11 vote according to ESPN. The Rams ended up relocating, and the Chargers were given a year to decide if they'd join them in Los Angeles. Spanos, the story said, felt betrayed. The Chargers have since said they're going to play in San Diego in 2016 and hope to stay there permanently.

The ESPN story said "Jones had engineered the defeat of one of the most beloved owners by one of the shrewdest," in regards to Kroenke's win over Spanos.

It's a great story with a lot of interesting back-room detail, but one thing is pretty clear: Jones still has a ton of sway in the NFL. Maybe the most among the owners.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab