A brief explainer of St. Louisans and pro sports owners

[DCH]

I know, I know, I'll be gone soon, but I wrote this out on Ram Stalk yesterday, and feel like it kind of helps explain why St. Louis natives are so... eff it, we're butthurt... about this situation, and also why so many of us cannot continue supporting the Rams:

We as St. Louisans (even those of us who moved away) have what I would describe as an... outdated... view of sports. 120 years of the Cardinals do that to a region. What I mean is, we still hold this Mayberry-esque view of sports franchises being a part of the community - a pillar, even, of the community.

That's not the case anymore, with very few exceptions. Look at the NFL and the NBA especially - these leagues seem to be evolving rapidly as old-school owners die off and their families lose their teams over cash-flow and inheritance tax concerns. Think about your core NFL franchises, and the families that have owned them for so long - your Rooneys, your citizens of Green Bay, Wisconsin, your McCaskeys - and then compare them to the carpetbaggers of the last several decades.

We live in a sports bubble in which major pro teams are owned by people who are committed to their communities, who value the relationship they have with their fans. I think Bill DeWitt exemplifies that locally, as did Gussie Busch (but not his kids, unfortunately). But those type of owners are rare, maybe they always have been, but we're so spoiled by Cardinals - and now Blues, thanks Tom Stillman - ownership that we expect it to be the norm.

I feel this past day like I've learned something of a lesson about sports ownership - the more popular and profitable the sport, the rarer those community-oriented owners truly are. Georgia was not one - she was just as much a carpetbagging dollar-chaser as Stan. I think Bidwell may have been, one who was let down by the community (read: politicians) not supporting him back.

In the end, hopefully this revelation helps me to understand why non-St. Louisans look at this event like it's no big deal (you can watch them on TV, after all) and help others understand why, to us, it really, really is.

 

[Stel]

I'm not a St. Louisan but go there a lot, but I think you are spot on. St. Louis is like an extremely large small town. Everyone from St. Louis is identified by the high school they attended. Tells you a lot about the person as soon as you know the school. It is changing, but slowly. Probably why this event is take more personally.

 

[FrantikRam]

When things like this happen, people should always look in the mirror and ask "what could I have done?" America has become so focused on dishing out blame. And frankly, hearing the same things from the citizens of St. Louis all the way up to the Mayor tells me something. Everyone is blaming someone else for this problem. So many people have compared it to a relationship...aren't those always two way streets? When a spouse cheats, can't you almost always trace it back to something the other spouse did?

I really hope that for the future of the NFL in St. Louis, the people can understand that while what Kroenke did could have been handled much better, the truth is that the people of St. Louis had this in their hands well before this decision. Some people will say he was going to move no matter what; that's just an excuse. When is the last time a team moved when they had support from their fanbase?

We are so obsessed with assigning blame....reality is that in situations like this, both sides are at fault. And those are experiences we can learn from in the future.


Also, your post above talks about how the Blues and Cardinals franchises are better for St. Louis than the Rams were - while I understand you're criticizing the Rams a bit for the community aspect, you're simultaneously acknowledging that St. Louis cares more about the Blues and Cardinals.

The Rams were only there for 20 years - of course there's going to be a different connection, on every level, between the two. The issue I think is that St. Louis is likely the only town where baseball is more important than football. Considering the difference in nationwide popularity between those sports, you could see how the NFL could come to the conclusion that St. Louis is not a good NFL market.


This post my get me in trouble in these times....but I'm a huge proponent of accountability and self awareness and there's only so much I can take of the blame game. Terrible things happen to us, and how you react to them is how you grow as a person. People that just trash Kroenke and the Rams - not going to allow growth as a community. Not going to learn anything from this. I am by no means defending Kroenke, but he's gone and there's nothing anyone can do about that. What we can do is look at ourselves in the mirror.

 

[tahoe]

When things like this happen, people should always look in the mirror and ask "what could I have done?" America has become so focused on dishing out blame. And frankly, hearing the same things from the citizens of St. Louis all the way up to the Mayor tells me something. Everyone is blaming someone else for this problem. So many people have compared it to a relationship...aren't those always two way streets? When a spouse cheats, can't you almost always trace it back to something the other spouse did?

I really hope that for the future of the NFL in St. Louis, the people can understand that while what Kroenke did could have been handled much better, the truth is that the people of St. Louis had this in their hands well before this decision. Some people will say he was going to move no matter what; that's just an excuse. When is the last time a team moved when they had support from their fanbase?

We are so obsessed with assigning blame....reality is that in situations like this, both sides are at fault. And those are experiences we can learn from in the future.


Also, your post above talks about how the Blues and Cardinals franchises are better for St. Louis than the Rams were - while I understand you're criticizing the Rams a bit for the community aspect, you're simultaneously acknowledging that St. Louis cares more about the Blues and Cardinals.

The Rams were only there for 20 years - of course there's going to be a different connection, on every level, between the two. The issue I think is that St. Louis is likely the only town where baseball is more important than football. Considering the difference in nationwide popularity between those sports, you could see how the NFL could come to the conclusion that St. Louis is not a good NFL market.


This post my get me in trouble in these times....but I'm a huge proponent of accountability and self awareness and there's only so much I can take of the blame game. Terrible things happen to us, and how you react to them is how you grow as a person. People that just trash Kroenke and the Rams - not going to allow growth as a community. Not going to learn anything from this. I am by no means defending Kroenke, but he's gone and there's nothing anyone can do about that. What we can do is look at ourselves in the mirror.

Dude you are wrong in every way! Kroenke was moving no matter what. This was nothing the fans or city could have done to change his mind.

 

[ChrisW]

When is the last time a team moved when they had support from their fanbase?

When was the last time a team moved with 400$ million of public money on the table?

You can talk about fan support all you want. The fact is Stan wants a fast track on his equity. I'm willing to bet a large sum that he will end up as Broncos owner before he dies with a guy like Anschutz owner of the Rams.