Goodell: No teams prepared to move -- for now

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Thursday there are no candidates to move into a proposed new Los Angeles stadium, but Goodell did not rule out the possibility in the future.

Real estate mogul Ed Roski is prepared to build an $800 million stadium without taxpayer money in the City of Industry, 20 miles east of Los Angeles. With NFL expansion highly unlikely, Roski is expected to target the Vikings as one of several potential tenants.

But while speaking to a group of sports editors in New York City, Goodell said:

"Fortunately, we don't have a team that is prepared to relocate and we like to keep teams where they are. On the other hand, it is something that is always a possibility if a team can't make it in its current community."

With the Vikings' lease at the Metrodome set to expire in 2011, owner Zygi Wilf has gained little traction toward building a new downtown stadium. Roski's stadium could be completed as early as 2011.

"We take it as a positive step," Goodell said of Roski's plan. "He is a serious guy and credible man that I have known for a long time. He has an interesting proposal that we will take seriously."

This year's draft will mark the second that has been run by Rick Spielman, the Vikings vice president of player personnel. Spielman introduced his own system of ranking players and how he wanted to do things when he took over, necessitating that Scott Studwell make some adjustments.

"The learning curve isn't as great as it was a year ago," said Studwell, the Vikings director of college scouting. "We're still working through some things. We still fall back, especially myself, to some of the old systems and he keeps hammering us over the head with it, and it's sinking in.

"We're going to get it. It's a good system, and it's been a productive system for Rick and everybody is comfortable in it. ... I'm a rep guy, so it takes me a little bit longer, but it's a great system for us."

It has been reported in some publications that recently acquired defensive end Jared Allen faces a one-year suspension if he gets into further trouble with the NFL. Allen was suspended for the first four regular-season games last season -- it was reduced to two games -- after being arrested twice for drunken driving in a five-month span in 2006.

But Greg Aiello, the NFL's senior vice president of media relations, said in an e-mail that nothing is "automatic" when it comes to possible league action. "All such cases are evaluated on an individual basis," Aiello said.

Linebacker Chad Greenway was asked if the Vikings' offseason acquisitions should make them the favorites in the NFC North.

"I don't think so," he said. "We know the Packers had a great year. You can't take 13-3 away from them, and you certainly have to earn that right to think that. We can't go in thinking that way. We're not nearly to that level yet. We have to win some games first."

The Vikings open at Green Bay on Sept. 8 in a Monday night game that will be highlighted by the retirement of Brett Favre's No. 4. "You know what?" Greenway said. "Monday night, retiring Favre's jersey, in Lambeau. If you can't get up for that one ... it's going to be a great game. It would just be that much sweeter if we can silence them. It's going to be tough."