Bernie: NFL will do what it wants
• By Bernie Miklasz
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_8098b84e-dd1a-589a-a6a0-e258b319899d.html
The National Football League is conducting a market study of St. Louis in an attempt to assess our level of fandom and corporate support.
This is all part of the feverish chariot race to Los Angeles pitting the Rams, Chargers and Raiders. St. Louis isn’t the only market being scrutinized by the NFL; Oakland, San Diego and LA are also going through an official league inspection.
There have been a few problems; some longtime St. Louis-based fans complained that they never received the survey, which was supposedly distributed to season-ticket holders here. It was the first sign of a potentially flawed process.
So what will the St. Louis market study show?
Easy answer: whatever the NFL wants it to show.
These NFL operatives have more moves than Marshall Faulk; you can’t hem them in. They always find wiggle room.
There’s NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who on Wednesday praised the STL effort to get a new stadium off the ground here. But Goodell added that the NFL is considering speeding up the timetable to allow owners, including the Rams’ Stan Kroenke, to apply for relocation sooner than the league’s original Jan. 1 window.
So while Goodell says he likes what’s going on in St. Louis, he also pivots and offers that Kroenke (and others) may be allowed to apply for a move in the fall. Which, of course, would give St. Louis less time to finalize the stadium plan. If that happens, advantage Kroenke. You have to admit it: This was a nice cutback move by Goodell.
NFL executive VP Eric Grubman has also praised the progress being made toward a new St. Louis stadium. And if task-force leaders Dave Peacock and Bob Blitz can complete the land acquisition and stadium funding, then St. Louis should be in a great shape, right?
Uh, well … not necessarily.
“Your supposition is that it’s just public money that turns the key in the lock that opens the door that makes the market viable,” said Grubman, as quoted by the Orange County Register. “That’s not all there is. Let’s put the pieces together. You have to have a stadium and a financing plan … You have to have a market assessment that suggests that the market can and will be healthy for the long term so that stadium plan is supported.
“And if you do that then you’ve demonstrated viability against relocation guidelines, but it still goes to a vote. But the reason I make that distinction is that I could see a scenario where a financing plan is assembled and land is assembled and an entitlement is assembled but the market assessment is dim. And in that scenario, I don’t know that the owners would necessarily feel compelled to keep the team there.
“I could see a scenario where the market assessment is terrific and the land is assembled and the financing plan is not quite done and the owners may say, too late. let ’em go. Or they may say, let’s give them a little bit more time. That’s up to the owners.”
After absorbing all of that, please allow me to repeat what I said earlier in this piece: In the matter of franchise relocation, the league will do as it pleases. Do not even try to box these people in. It’s impossible.
This is a helpful reminder from the men who run the league. Seriously, it’s better to know what we’re up against instead of being naive and making false assumptions. I made that mistake — a big one — at the beginning of this escapade. Well, never again.
This is their league, they have full control of the process, and the relocation guidelines are essentially relocation suggestions. If this comes down to a relocation vote, the owners can disregard the rules and vote as they please.
If the NFL and its owners decide it’s smart to have the Rams head to SoCal and play in Kroenke’s spectacular new stadium, then this is exactly how things will go down.
I’m not saying situation is hopeless. It’s possible that the NFL will conduct an honorable process. And we were the first to discuss alternatives, including the NFL redirecting the Raiders to St. Louis, or Kroenke selling the Rams to buy the Raiders and set them up in Los Angeles.
A lot of this sounds goofy, but you just can’t rule anything out. This competition for the LA market already has featured surprise developments and frequent revisions to the narrative.
One thing has not changed: St. Louis must have a new stadium to stay in the game, and stay in the NFL. Peacock and Blitz have to finalize the land purchase and stadium funding as soon as possible. Without the stadium, it’s over for the NFL here. That’s the one absolute.
As for the NFL’s market study of St. Louis, I’ll try to offer some assistance.
This is a good football town that’s been stuck with bad teams and worse owners. There have been 48 NFL seasons here, with only 16 ending with a winning record, and only eight resulting in a trip to the postseason.
The Cardinals were here 28 seasons, ranked 18th in winning percentage and went 0-3 in the postseason. The Rams have been here 20 seasons, and while the “Greatest Show” era was tremendous (but brief), the franchise ranks 27th in the league in wins since moving here. Only the Raiders have won fewer games since 2004.
Despite already having endured decades of sad-sack football and having a 6-10 team and an owner plotting to move the franchise, St. Louis fans still averaged 57,000 in attendance per home game in 2014. These fans have had every reason to be demoralized but still filled the sterile Edward Jones Dome to 88 percent capacity.
I’d say this is strong but undernourished football market. One that hasn’t had the chance to enjoy many winning seasons or benefit from quality, or truly local, ownership. One that has watched home games in a cookie-cutter baseball stadium (Busch II) or in the current convention-center warehouse.
I doubt that any of this will make it to the NFL’s market-study report. The best we can hope for is that this town will receive fair treatment from the NFL. But this is the NFL’s game, and the league makes the rules. That’s the reality.
