“Closer than ever — ever being since they left, which has been a long time much to my surprise and anticipation,” said Jones on Saturday, when asked if the NFL was close to returning to Los Angeles. “There are some viable ways for a team or teams to be in Los Angeles. We’ve got some very talented and very qualified people that want to be a part of it that are not a part of the league right now. We, obviously, have people within the league that want this very much.”

Jones spoke before his Cowboys opened up training camp in Oxnard, Calif., a coastal city 60 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Since 2001, the Cowboys have held at least a portion of their training camp in Oxnard eight times. From 1963-1989, they held their training camp in Thousand Oaks, Calif., which is 45 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Last year, Jones’ son, Stephen, who sits on the NFL’s stadium committee, said getting a team in Los Angeles was a top priority for the NFL and Jones said that has not changed.

“I think we’re closer,” Jones said. “I say that not just wishing. I say that, technically, because I’m aware of some things that make sense.”

Jones was hesitant to put a timeframe on the NFL’s return to Los Angeles but did think progress was being made for it to happen in the near future.

“How long does it take to build a stadium?” Jones said. “I know how long it took to build one. The other thing is that there’s certainly ways to do it without having a stadium ready. Those are some moving parts but you have to have the commitment [from the team], which for the people that make those kinds of commitments it starts that day for them in a serious way. I wouldn’t want to give you a timeframe on it but I do think that the commitment and the substance with that commitment is right around the corner.”

The Los Angeles Raiders and Los Angeles Rams played their last games in Southern California on Christmas Eve 1994 before moving to Oakland and St. Louis, respectively. Almost 20 years later, the Raiders and Rams, along with the San Diego Chargers, are the most viable teams to move to Los Angeles if they can’t get their current stadium issues resolved. The Raiders and Chargers can get out of their current leases after the 2013 season while the Rams can get out of their lease after the 2014 season.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has said the NFL is not considering expanding from 32 teams and if Los Angeles were to get a team, it would come via relocation.

Last year Goodell sent a memo to all 32 organizations that said no single team has any “presumptive right” to play in Los Angeles and that only the league can make a decision on relocation. Any franchise interested in relocating to Los Angeles must apply between Jan. 1 and Feb. 15 of that year, and prove it has exhausted all attempts to remain in its current location.

There are currently two proposed stadium sites for a future NFL team in Los Angeles.

Farmers Field, a proposed stadium in downtown Los Angeles by Anschutz Entertainment Group, and a competing stadium proposed by real estate magnate Ed Roski in the City of Industry. Both are “shovel ready” but need a long-term commitment from a team before construction can begin. If construction does begin, it could take up to four years to complete.

In the meantime, the NFL team that relocates to Los Angeles would play in either the L.A. Coliseum or the Rose Bowl.

There had been some speculation that AEG’s Farmers Field was doomed after the company was taken off the sales block earlier this year and former president and CEO Tim Leiweke, who was the driving force behind the project, left the company. AEG owner Philip Anschutz, however, said he is still committed to the project and returning the NFL to L.A. and Jones said he likes the project and Anschutz.

“There are no misgivings at all about it,” Jones said of Farmers Field. “It has outstanding people involved. Phil Anschutz is an outstanding individual and would be an asset in any way for any group to be involved with and he has quite a sports background and quite a background in venues so that project. I’m actually involved in a company that just hired the lead guy that was involved in putting that Farmers Field project together so all those people have a lot of talent. It’s not a negative. It’s a plus.”

Jones, born in El Segundo, Calif., a city in Los Angeles County located on the Santa Monica Bay, spoke about his affinity for Southern California after opening his first training camp in nearby Thousand Oaks nearly 25 years ago and winning his first Super Bowl in Pasadena. He understands many in Los Angeles may be skeptical of the NFL returning to Los Angeles after being away for so long. There is a constant feeling that Los Angeles is simply being used as a threat for current teams to get new stadiums. In fact, since the Raiders and Rams left Los Angeles in 1994, 24 new stadiums have been built for 25 teams. Jones, however, reiterated the league’s commitment to making it happen soon.

“I’ve never, ever been a part of any meeting or committee ever that didn’t want, as quickly as we could, to get a team in L.A.,” Jones said. “I’ve heard that that could be a threat to people moving their teams out but that’s not right. We’ve always preferred to get a team here.”

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An MRI on Wednesday revealed that Callahan has a partially dislocated left shoulder.

“Definitely could have been a lot worse than it was,” Callahan said Thursday in a video posted on the Rangers’ website. “After the MRI, we got news there was no structural damage, so it’s just a matter of a little bit of rehab, get some treatment and get back at it.”

Callahan suffered the injury during a fight with Maxime Talbot in the third period of Tuesday’s 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Callahan said he doesn’t know how the injury happened as he got caught in a wrong position while the two were pushing and pulling.

Callahan knew immediately that something was wrong and quickly left the ice, favoring that shoulder as he skated off. He applauded Talbot for recognizing he was injured and letting up during their tussle, and doesn’t believe that the surprise nature of the fight contributed to the dislocated shoulder.

“Any time you miss time, especially in a shortened season like this, it’s hard,” Callahan said. “I wish I was out there, but at the same time, injuries happen during the year and these things are going to happen and it’s just a matter of trying to get back as quick as I can.”

While he injured the shoulder fighting, Callahan has no hesitation about dropping the gloves again.

“It happens. It’s a freak thing,” Callahan said. “I got caught in exactly the right spot to have this happen, and fighting, or whatever it may be, is part of the game and if it presents itself again, you have to do it.”

After Callahan pulled Talbot out of a pile in front of the net, the Flyers forward dropped his gloves and went right at Callahan.

“Just unlucky, I guess,” Callahan said Thursday.

Callahan, 27, said the next few days will focus on allowing the inflammation to settle down, and then he and the Rangers’ training staff will focus on getting his shoulder stronger through treatment.

Callahan said he currently isn’t in too much pain, although the shoulder flares up if he moves it too much.

The recovery timetable means he could miss between four to seven games. If he only needs 10 days, he could return against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 10. If he misses the full two weeks, that could mean a return in a home game against the New York Islanders on Feb. 14.

Callahan last missed an extended amount of games in 2010-11, when he played just 60 after breaking his hand and fracturing his ankle right before the end of the season.

He has two goals this season, both on the power play, and will be sorely missed over the next two weeks. He’s on the Rangers’ second line, is great on the penalty kill and has proved to be the team’s top scorer this season on the power play.

“He’s a huge part of our team,” Rangers forward Derek Stepan said. “But everyone is going to have to step up, take a little bit of his pie and try to do some of the things he does. It’s going to take six, seven, eight guys to fill the role that Cally does.”

Added center Brad Richards: “Hopefully it’s short and he gets back quick. Obviously the mood around here is we want him back as soon as possible. Big part of every part of the game. Power play, penalty kill, 5-on-5s. That being said, we’ve got to push on. It’s part of the game we play.”

One player the Rangers hope will step up in Callahan’s absence will be Stepan. While he’s fifth on the team with four points, he has yet to score a goal. One of the Rangers’ problems this year has been a lack of production outside their top line of Richards, Rick Nash and Marian Gaborik.

“You lose a top guy like that, it shuffles the lineup. Gives other guys chances they probably wouldn’t get if he was playing,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said Wednesday. “I feel comfortable in us joining together as a team and trying to get it solved until we get him back.”

“Individually I’m still working on my game; I still got a lot to sharpen up,” Stepan said. “I think now with Cally out it’s going to be most important to really get it straightened out now.”

The Rangers also will be without forward Chris Kreider for Thursday’s game against the Penguins as he recovers from a bone chip in his ankle. He had a light skate Wednesday and also skated Thursday morning, according to reports.

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Two people with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Saturday that the NCAA is scheduling meetings to discuss specific allegations with individuals who are believed to have committed violations found during the inquiry. Some meetings will take place Monday, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because neither the NCAA nor Miami authorized them to reveal the developments publicly.

The reviewing of specific findings is a sign that the investigation phase is ending, meaning Miami may finally receive its notice of allegations letter in the coming days. Typically, schools review at least one draft of the notice before it formally arrives.

The NCAA does not comment on ongoing investigations. Miami’s statement throughout the investigation has been that it is cooperating and not commenting further.

Earlier this month, Miami coach Al Golden told the AP that he did not expect the university to be surprised by the NCAA’s findings.

“We just want to receive the notice,” Golden said. “The day we do that is the day we take a big step forward. I don’t think there’s any question that will be a release. And the good thing there is we don’t anticipate any shock or any surprise.”

Miami’s receipt of the notice of allegations is simply the end of one phase of the process.

Up next would be the sanctions phase, when the actual penalties against the Hurricanes would be handed down. Typically, schools and individuals named in the notice of allegations have 90 days to file a response to the NCAA’s findings, all of which would be reviewed by the committee on infractions — which operates separately from the NCAA’s investigative arm.

If the notice of allegations is, in fact, looming, that means Miami may find out its punishment by perhaps May or June.

Some of the sanctions have already gone into effect, since they were self-imposed. Miami’s football team has missed three postseason games — two bowl games and what would have been an appearance in this season’s Atlantic Coast Conference championship game — in response to the investigation, and Golden is holding back a number of scholarships from the 2013 roster as well.

The Miami investigation may go down as one of the most complex in the NCAA’s history.

For starters, the principal whistleblower is Nevin Shapiro, a former booster who’s serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for masterminding a $930 million Ponzi scheme. Virtually all of the individuals who were named by Shapiro in his detailed claims that were published by Yahoo Sports in August 2011 are no longer at the university, and several of the people to whom the NCAA wanted to talk simply refused during the inquiry.

The NCAA inquiry started several months before that August 2011 article.

Shapiro’s tales were wild and sordid, with claims of him giving dozens of coaches, players and recruits things like cash, memorabilia, strip-club outings, yacht rides and even paying for prostitutes. In an interview in 2011 with Miami CBS affiliate WFOR, Shapiro predicted that his claims would lead to Miami’s football program getting the “death penalty” — the sanction where the NCAA would basically shut down the program.

Most of Shapiro’s claims involved the football program, though others also involved the Hurricanes’ men’s basketball team.

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