New: Latest on Kroenke, Rams and NFL in STL

[BuiltRamTough]

WOW has Stan evolved or what? It's truly hard to believe that it has come to this. The expansion St. Louis group led by Walter Payton in the 90's lost their money person and had to withdraw their offer to the NFL, Kroenke was brought on last minute to save the expansion opportunity for St. Louis, however, the owners felt Kronke was a yokel (past articles) and decided they liked Wayne Weaver instead and went with Jacksonville.

Charlotte and St. Louis were always the favorites especially St. Louis because of Payton and the stadium, but all went south and St. Louis was left with a Stadium and no football team. Kroenke could not save day mainly because the owners did not think he was one of them. Fast Forward till now and not only is Kroenke one of them, he's the envy of many...Money is a great equalizer no matter how parlay it.

It's crazy how it all went down. Take them to STL and then 20 years later once the lease is up bring them back. They basically milked STL.

 

[V3]

Some teams like the jags and Panthers have had it worse then the Rams but they're worth higher then the Rams but I get what you're saying and winning helps. I just don't understand how the Jags are higher and teams like the Titans are higher then the Rams. Look at the Forbes list you'll see. It is what it is.

http://www.forbes.com/nfl-valuations/list/

How the heck have the Jags and Panthers had it worse than the Rams? The Rams have had the WORST 5 year stretch EVER and the 2nd worst 10 years stretch EVER while in St. Louis. The only team with the worse 10 year stretch is the Raiders.

 

[LesBaker]

All this is very true. Unfortunately, much like pensioners whose pensions go under, employees whose factories shut down, all the outrage isn't going to save what you've got. We could be never see football here again. The Raiders coming here to replace the Rams if they leave is about the most caring you'll ever see out of a group of billionaires. You just have to remind yourself that it's a game played for entertainment by mercenary players for cutthroat billionaires. If we get some civic improvements and 30 years of home games as a town we come out ahead. In fact I'd count it as an underdog victory if we lost a team to greed and managed to replace them.

Besides, as bad as the Raiders currently are, the owner is relatively poor, and seemingly almost kind of loyal to his fan base. Be kind of nice to never hear the word relocation here again.

I've seen this tossed around. I don't see the NFL letting three teams move all at once. This is something I just don't ever see happening.

I cant' see it. Ever.

 

[RAMbler]

How six NFL owners will change the fate of St. Louis football
• By David Hunn

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_85bbe024-ef0e-5e65-b7f1-20588b5a6597.html

PHOENIX • The face of St. Louis football walked the gilded halls of the Arizona Biltmore hotel last week, in double-buckled loafers, a blue plaid suit, aviator sunglasses and a grin.

At the close of last week’s annual meeting of National Football League owners, there was no longer any doubt: Stan Kroenke wants to move the Rams to Los Angeles.

On Monday, a league executive briefed teams on Kroenke’s plans for a glamorous, 80,000-seat, $1.86 billion stadium in Inglewood, Calif.

Afterward, a group of key owners and league executives made another thing clear: Moving the Rams will be difficult if St. Louis planners nail down a proposal to build a new football stadium downtown.

And that shifts the fate of St. Louis football out of the enigmatic owner’s hands and — temporarily — into those of St. Louisans.

Eventually, the decision will come down to a room and the NFL’s 32 owners. “At the end of the day, it’s an owners vote,” said Pittsburgh Steelers owner and NFL stadium committee chairman Art Rooney II. “That’s where this will wind up. It’s got to get 24 votes.”

But St. Louis’ chance won’t get that far if local planners can’t cement the details of their riverfront stadium proposal.

The fight for a team in Los Angeles changed battlefields last week. The debate moved from the public forum into a private and much more managed setting: owners committees. One such committee will research, debate and eventually write recommendations on a move to the LA market.

There is no longer real discussion of whether owners will try to relocate. Only which teams will go. And which cities will lose a team.

“This could come to a vote in a year,” said Steve Tisch, co-owner of the New York Giants. The NFL has made it “very clear,” he said — St. Louis, San Diego and Oakland need to “get their proposals to their respective teams sooner rather than later.”

“Is it crunch time? Is it a two-minute warning yet? No,” said Tisch. “But ... those three cities are kind of in the fourth quarter.”

‘SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE’

The NFL governs itself much as does any large company or association. A chief executive — Commissioner Roger Goodell — runs the organization and reports to the board — the owners. The owners break into small working committees, which tackle major tasks and make recommendations to the full board. While the full board votes on final decisions, those committee recommendations carry weight.

And the first stop for each of the stadium plans will be the newly formed Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities.

As the Phoenix meeting stretched into the week, the Post-Dispatch tracked down all six team owners Goodell appointed to the LA committee.

All but one — Kansas City Chiefs Chairman Clark Hunt — spoke about their task. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, New York Giants co-owner John Mara, the Houston Texans’ Bob McNair, the Carolina Panthers’ Jerry Richardson and the Steelers’ Rooney each emphasized their commitment to keeping teams in local markets.

“I mean, when we put these relocation guidelines in place, again, it was with the intent to create stability, to create a bias for keeping a team in the home market, if at all possible,” Rooney said. “And I don’t sense that there’s any big change in that thinking in the league.

“We never wanted to be a league that had teams moving all over the place at the drop of a hat,” Rooney continued.

But they each also stressed that only applies under one condition: if hometowns mount real plans.

“We’ve got to remove the uncertainty,” Richardson said.

The owners’ declarations are heavy with meaning. The San Diego Chargers have been asking for a new stadium for 14 years, and yet the city isn’t scheduled to present a proposal to the team until mid-May. “It’s kind of getting to the point where something has to give,” Chargers owner Dean Spanos told the Post-Dispatch.

And Oakland regional officials have been at such odds with each other, they didn’t even vote to begin working together on a project until last week. Their proposal won’t be ready until August.

“If you want to consider that progress, that’s what it is,” Mark Davis, owner of the Raiders, said Tuesday. “Yeah, we’ve been at it for six or seven years now.”

The Chargers-Raiders two-team, $1.7 billion stadium proposal in Carson, Calif., announced just a month ago, is quickly gaining ground on Kroenke’s plan. But it’s still in second place.

And all of that leaves St. Louis planners in a unique position. Yes, they face an owner with means and momentum. But they are front-runners, too.

If St. Louis planners can hammer out the financing and market feasibility of their 64,000-seat, $985 million riverfront proposal, then perhaps they can persuade NFL owners that the region doesn’t deserve to lose a team.

‘GOOD TO SEE YOU’

The first Kroenke sighting came late Monday afternoon. A throng of reporters chased him down the Biltmore hallways. Rams operations chief Kevin Demoff flanked his left. “We’ve got to run,” Demoff told them. “I’m sorry.”

The Post-Dispatch caught up. Kroenke smiled, then chuckled upon hearing the name of his team’s hometown paper.

“Good to see you,” said Kroenke.

“We’ll keep walking,” said Demoff.

By the meeting’s end on Wednesday, Kroenke’s timeline was clearer: Los Angeles stadium plans due to Goodell at the end of April. A potential vote at the next owners meeting, in May in San Francisco. And proposals for hometown stadiums this spring.

Goodell has praised the progress in St. Louis. And it has been substantial, by all accounts.

Gov. Jay Nixon’s two-man task force has directed the Edward Jones Dome Authority to hire Doug Woodruff and his team at Downtown STL to assemble land north of downtown. The authority refused to release Woodruff’s contract, citing real estate exceptions to Missouri public records laws. But Woodruff said they’ve already cut a few checks to land owners.

Designs are progressing. Demoff, who is attending task force meetings — as requested by the NFL — is helping advance the stadium’s design. Local design firm HOK is consistently updating stadium plans.

And the Pennsylvania venue management firm SMG is already assessing the market, stadium financing deals, and possible lease agreements with a team, at a cost of $200,000 to the Dome Authority.

Former Anheuser-Busch executive Dave Peacock, the face of the local effort, says he and his team have made multiple presentations to the league and to the Rams.

But the NFL owners are looking for certainty. And the St. Louis plan isn’t yet that.

“We still have to get ducks in a row on our side, in our community,” Peacock said last week. “There’s still homework being done. People way smarter than me are looking at this.”

A contingent of taxpayer-funded stadium opponents insist Nixon will need voter approval in St. Louis and St. Louis County to “extend” the payments on the Edward Jones Dome so they could cover as much as $350 million of the new stadium, too. The Missouri Senate recently passed a bill requiring legislative or voter approval to extend bonds for a new stadium.

An NFL-commissioned market study is another question mark. The study sent 30-minute online surveys to a database of thousands of Rams fans and corporate sponsors, with the goal of determining just how many will buy season tickets, fancy suites and the like.

Peacock said he wasn’t worried. But some owners and NFL executives privately said they were.

Peacock said he understands what he’s up against. “We have to do our job to keep a team,” he said.

“We’re acting with urgency.”

In the meantime, Kroenke is on a bullet train to LA.

He ran into reporters one last time as he left the Biltmore Wednesday afternoon.

He said hello, chuckled again, and paused, for a moment.

Then he patted a reporter on the side, turned.

And left.

Jim Thomas of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

How six NFL owners will change the fate of St. Louis football
• By David Hunn

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_85bbe024-ef0e-5e65-b7f1-20588b5a6597.html

PHOENIX • The face of St. Louis football walked the gilded halls of the Arizona Biltmore hotel last week, in double-buckled loafers, a blue plaid suit, aviator sunglasses and a grin.

At the close of last week’s annual meeting of National Football League owners, there was no longer any doubt: Stan Kroenke wants to move the Rams to Los Angeles.

On Monday, a league executive briefed teams on Kroenke’s plans for a glamorous, 80,000-seat, $1.86 billion stadium in Inglewood, Calif.

Afterward, a group of key owners and league executives made another thing clear: Moving the Rams will be difficult if St. Louis planners nail down a proposal to build a new football stadium downtown.

And that shifts the fate of St. Louis football out of the enigmatic owner’s hands and — temporarily — into those of St. Louisans.

Eventually, the decision will come down to a room and the NFL’s 32 owners. “At the end of the day, it’s an owners vote,” said Pittsburgh Steelers owner and NFL stadium committee chairman Art Rooney II. “That’s where this will wind up. It’s got to get 24 votes.”

But St. Louis’ chance won’t get that far if local planners can’t cement the details of their riverfront stadium proposal.

The fight for a team in Los Angeles changed battlefields last week. The debate moved from the public forum into a private and much more managed setting: owners committees. One such committee will research, debate and eventually write recommendations on a move to the LA market.

There is no longer real discussion of whether owners will try to relocate. Only which teams will go. And which cities will lose a team.

“This could come to a vote in a year,” said Steve Tisch, co-owner of the New York Giants. The NFL has made it “very clear,” he said — St. Louis, San Diego and Oakland need to “get their proposals to their respective teams sooner rather than later.”

“Is it crunch time? Is it a two-minute warning yet? No,” said Tisch. “But ... those three cities are kind of in the fourth quarter.”

‘SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE’

The NFL governs itself much as does any large company or association. A chief executive — Commissioner Roger Goodell — runs the organization and reports to the board — the owners. The owners break into small working committees, which tackle major tasks and make recommendations to the full board. While the full board votes on final decisions, those committee recommendations carry weight.

And the first stop for each of the stadium plans will be the newly formed Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities.

As the Phoenix meeting stretched into the week, the Post-Dispatch tracked down all six team owners Goodell appointed to the LA committee.

All but one — Kansas City Chiefs Chairman Clark Hunt — spoke about their task. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, New York Giants co-owner John Mara, the Houston Texans’ Bob McNair, the Carolina Panthers’ Jerry Richardson and the Steelers’ Rooney each emphasized their commitment to keeping teams in local markets.

“I mean, when we put these relocation guidelines in place, again, it was with the intent to create stability, to create a bias for keeping a team in the home market, if at all possible,” Rooney said. “And I don’t sense that there’s any big change in that thinking in the league.

“We never wanted to be a league that had teams moving all over the place at the drop of a hat,” Rooney continued.

But they each also stressed that only applies under one condition: if hometowns mount real plans.

“We’ve got to remove the uncertainty,” Richardson said.

The owners’ declarations are heavy with meaning. The San Diego Chargers have been asking for a new stadium for 14 years, and yet the city isn’t scheduled to present a proposal to the team until mid-May. “It’s kind of getting to the point where something has to give,” Chargers owner Dean Spanos told the Post-Dispatch.

And Oakland regional officials have been at such odds with each other, they didn’t even vote to begin working together on a project until last week. Their proposal won’t be ready until August.

“If you want to consider that progress, that’s what it is,” Mark Davis, owner of the Raiders, said Tuesday. “Yeah, we’ve been at it for six or seven years now.”

The Chargers-Raiders two-team, $1.7 billion stadium proposal in Carson, Calif., announced just a month ago, is quickly gaining ground on Kroenke’s plan. But it’s still in second place.

And all of that leaves St. Louis planners in a unique position. Yes, they face an owner with means and momentum. But they are front-runners, too.

If St. Louis planners can hammer out the financing and market feasibility of their 64,000-seat, $985 million riverfront proposal, then perhaps they can persuade NFL owners that the region doesn’t deserve to lose a team.

‘GOOD TO SEE YOU’

The first Kroenke sighting came late Monday afternoon. A throng of reporters chased him down the Biltmore hallways. Rams operations chief Kevin Demoff flanked his left. “We’ve got to run,” Demoff told them. “I’m sorry.”

The Post-Dispatch caught up. Kroenke smiled, then chuckled upon hearing the name of his team’s hometown paper.

“Good to see you,” said Kroenke.

“We’ll keep walking,” said Demoff.

By the meeting’s end on Wednesday, Kroenke’s timeline was clearer: Los Angeles stadium plans due to Goodell at the end of April. A potential vote at the next owners meeting, in May in San Francisco. And proposals for hometown stadiums this spring.

Goodell has praised the progress in St. Louis. And it has been substantial, by all accounts.

Gov. Jay Nixon’s two-man task force has directed the Edward Jones Dome Authority to hire Doug Woodruff and his team at Downtown STL to assemble land north of downtown. The authority refused to release Woodruff’s contract, citing real estate exceptions to Missouri public records laws. But Woodruff said they’ve already cut a few checks to land owners.

Designs are progressing. Demoff, who is attending task force meetings — as requested by the NFL — is helping advance the stadium’s design. Local design firm HOK is consistently updating stadium plans.

And the Pennsylvania venue management firm SMG is already assessing the market, stadium financing deals, and possible lease agreements with a team, at a cost of $200,000 to the Dome Authority.

Former Anheuser-Busch executive Dave Peacock, the face of the local effort, says he and his team have made multiple presentations to the league and to the Rams.

But the NFL owners are looking for certainty. And the St. Louis plan isn’t yet that.

“We still have to get ducks in a row on our side, in our community,” Peacock said last week. “There’s still homework being done. People way smarter than me are looking at this.”

A contingent of taxpayer-funded stadium opponents insist Nixon will need voter approval in St. Louis and St. Louis County to “extend” the payments on the Edward Jones Dome so they could cover as much as $350 million of the new stadium, too. The Missouri Senate recently passed a bill requiring legislative or voter approval to extend bonds for a new stadium.

An NFL-commissioned market study is another question mark. The study sent 30-minute online surveys to a database of thousands of Rams fans and corporate sponsors, with the goal of determining just how many will buy season tickets, fancy suites and the like.

Peacock said he wasn’t worried. But some owners and NFL executives privately said they were.

Peacock said he understands what he’s up against. “We have to do our job to keep a team,” he said.

“We’re acting with urgency.”

In the meantime, Kroenke is on a bullet train to LA.

He ran into reporters one last time as he left the Biltmore Wednesday afternoon.

He said hello, chuckled again, and paused, for a moment.

Then he patted a reporter on the side, turned.

And left.

Jim Thomas of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

Anyone else catch this HUGE contradiction?

"Demoff, who is attending task force meetings — as requested by the NFL — is helping advance the stadium’s design."

AND

"In the meantime, Kroenke is on a bullet train to LA."

(Sorry for the double article)

 

[BuiltRamTough]

Anyone else catch this HUGE contradiction?

"Demoff, who is attending task force meetings — as requested by the NFL — is helping advance the stadium’s design."

AND

"In the meantime, Kroenke is on a bullet train to LA."

(Sorry for the double article)

Don't read too much into quotes. Actions speak louder then words. Stan doesn't speak but his actions are heard.

 

[bluecoconuts]

Anyone else catch this HUGE contradiction?

"Demoff, who is attending task force meetings — as requested by the NFL — is helping advance the stadium’s design."

AND

"In the meantime, Kroenke is on a bullet train to LA."

(Sorry for the double article)

Demoff could be paying lip service just for appearances, he could be making sure its a good stadium so the NFL can have an easier time getting another owner to move there, could be making sure they have a good fall back plan, LA could really be a bluff, lots of different options.

One thing is for certain, he probably won't be doing any ROD chats for anytime soon.

 

[MrMotes]

"Demoff, who is attending task force meetings — as requested by the NFL — is helping advance the stadium’s design."

As requested by the NFL. And why burn bridges any sooner than necessary? There's still 2015 and maybe the move doesn't happen. It's good business to keep all options open regardless of what the preferred end game is...

 

[iced]

Don't read too much into quotes. Actions speak louder then words. Stan doesn't speak but his actions are heard.

most certainly are

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5121918

April 2010

ST. LOUIS -- Billionaire Stan Kroenke says he wants to keep the Rams in St. Louis.

"I'm going to attempt to do everything that I can to keep the Rams in St. Louis," Kroenke told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "Just as I did everything that I could to bring the team to St. Louis in 1995. I believe my actions speak for themselves."

The comments are his first since announcing he wants to buy the 60 percent of the team he doesn't yet own.

"There's a track record," Kroenke told the newspaper. "I've always stepped up for pro football in St. Louis. And I'm stepping up one more time."

Illinois businessman Shahid Khan is also bidding for the 60 percent stake in the Rams. Kroenke declined to comment on details of his bid and he has not returned repeated calls from The Associated Press.

The team's majority owner and chairman, Chip Rosenbloom, told the Post-Dispatch, "There's no reason to believe that Stan would be anything less than committed to St. Louis."

Rosenbloom said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that he couldn't comment on details of the sales process.

Kroenke lives in Columbia, Mo. He also owns the NBA's Denver Nuggets and the NHL's Colorado Avalanche.

"I'm born and raised in Missouri," Kroenke told the newspaper. "I've been a Missourian for 60 years. People in our state know me. People know I can be trusted. People know I am an honorable guy."

 

[myronjax]

I need to find or create an avatar of a mushroom cap with horns.

will these do?

 

[den-the-coach]

most certainly are

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5121918

 

[BriansRams]

I've seen this tossed around. I don't see the NFL letting three teams move all at once. This is something I just don't ever see happening.

I cant' see it. Ever.

But ... can you ever see it happening?

 

[BriansRams]

STL better be prepared to take it in the shorts. I for one, will not bend over and have the Raiders shoved up my ass.

That would probably really really hurt. I'm glad you've decided against it.

 

[iced]

That would probably really really hurt. I'm glad you've decided against it.

thats...just..to easy...

gives new meaning to the name "the black hole"

 

[BuiltRamTough]

http://www.orovillemr.com//general-...aider-nation-to-rank-favorite-oakland-teams/1

NFL asks Raider Nation to rank favorite Oakland teams
By: Matthew Artz martz@bayareanewsgroup.com

Friday, March 27, 2015 - 5:56 p.m.

OAKLAND -- Which East Bay sports team is most important to you? The NFL wants to know.

As part of its process of studying the viability of the three cities at risk of losing their football teams to Los Angeles, the NFL emailed a survey to Raiders season ticket holders this week.

Many of the questions focused fan satisfaction with O.Co Coliseum and their willingness to spend more for tickets at a new stadium.

But the one query that rankled some fans asked them to "rank the importance" of the Raiders, Oakland A's and Golden State Warriors on a scale of 1 to 3.

It's an article of faith among Oakland sports boosters that there is room at the sprawling Coliseum complex to build new stadiums for both the A's and the Raiders. Neither team, however, has given any indication that they are game to share the site.

Depending on the poll results, fan rankings could give the NFL ammunition to relocate the Raiders, said Chris Dobbins, an avid Raiders and A's fan who sits on the board that oversees the teams' home field.

"We don't want our teams pitted against each other," he said. "We want to keep all of them."

When another season ticket holder ranked the A's ahead of the Raiders, the survey asked if his preference had to do with ticket prices, performance or game day atmosphere.

Other questions gauged fan support for a variety of tools to finance a new football stadium, including ticket surcharges, sales taxes, hotel taxes, property taxes and a requirement that fans pay for the right to buy season tickets.

"We are trying to learn as much as we can about the Oakland market," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a two-sentence email when asked about the survey. "It's no more complicated than that."


The NFL is going to use these "market assessments" as an excuse if a team relocates.

I could picture the commish saying this. " we did extensive market research and it's in the clubs best intrest to relocate so they could be successful in the long term" or he'll just make something up.

 

[Legatron4]

http://www.orovillemr.com//general-...aider-nation-to-rank-favorite-oakland-teams/1

NFL asks Raider Nation to rank favorite Oakland teams
By: Matthew Artz martz@bayareanewsgroup.com

Friday, March 27, 2015 - 5:56 p.m.

OAKLAND -- Which East Bay sports team is most important to you? The NFL wants to know.

As part of its process of studying the viability of the three cities at risk of losing their football teams to Los Angeles, the NFL emailed a survey to Raiders season ticket holders this week.

Many of the questions focused fan satisfaction with O.Co Coliseum and their willingness to spend more for tickets at a new stadium.

But the one query that rankled some fans asked them to "rank the importance" of the Raiders, Oakland A's and Golden State Warriors on a scale of 1 to 3.

It's an article of faith among Oakland sports boosters that there is room at the sprawling Coliseum complex to build new stadiums for both the A's and the Raiders. Neither team, however, has given any indication that they are game to share the site.

Depending on the poll results, fan rankings could give the NFL ammunition to relocate the Raiders, said Chris Dobbins, an avid Raiders and A's fan who sits on the board that oversees the teams' home field.

"We don't want our teams pitted against each other," he said. "We want to keep all of them."

When another season ticket holder ranked the A's ahead of the Raiders, the survey asked if his preference had to do with ticket prices, performance or game day atmosphere.

Other questions gauged fan support for a variety of tools to finance a new football stadium, including ticket surcharges, sales taxes, hotel taxes, property taxes and a requirement that fans pay for the right to buy season tickets.

"We are trying to learn as much as we can about the Oakland market," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a two-sentence email when asked about the survey. "It's no more complicated than that."


The NFL is going to use these "market assessments" as an excuse if a team relocates.

I could picture the commish saying this. " we did extensive market research and it's in the clubs best intrest to relocate so they could be successful in the long term" or he'll just make something up.

That is really dumb. If Oakand wants to keep the Raiders 100% of them will say Raiders. Does the NFL really not believe any of us know what is going on?

 

[bluecoconuts]

That is really dumb. If Oakand wants to keep the Raiders 100% of them will say Raiders. Does the NFL really not believe any of us know what is going on?

Since I'm pretty sure they don't release the raw numbers, I'm guessing they calculate the bias in the response, and go from there. Really they can make the data say just about anything they want, they can frame questions in a way that lead to certain responses, etc. I always got the feeling they heavily weigh the response bias in these things, so even something like 85% positive can be seen as bad to them. They'll be able to use any of the surveys against the teams if they want.

 

[D L]

Since I'm pretty sure they don't release the raw numbers, I'm guessing they calculate the bias in the response, and go from there. Really they can make the data say just about anything they want, they can frame questions in a way that lead to certain responses, etc. I always got the feeling they heavily weigh the response bias in these things, so even something like 85% positive can be seen as bad to them. They'll be able to use any of the surveys against the teams if they want.

So in other words somebody is gonna get fucked.

 

[RamFan503]

View attachment 5811 will these do?

Might just use them from time to time. Thanks.

 

[PowayRamFan]

View attachment 5811 will these do?

If I eat those will they, uh, make me trip out?

 

[myronjax]

If I eat those will they, uh, make me trip out?

Unfortunately, that trip might end up in LA.