New: Latest on Kroenke, Rams and NFL in STL

[RamFan503]

StubHub Center and their proposed development around the stadium. They have already threatened a lawsuit

And.... who owns that? They must be working on reports that show terrorists will be plotting to ignite the methane with jets diverted from LAX.

 

[RamFan503]

 

[RamBill]

STL deserves to keep the Rams
By Palmer Alexander III

http://www.stlamerican.com/sports/s...cle_f799b3b0-02ee-11e5-a875-175ec6c7d7a6.html

Last week the NFL owners conducted more meetings and talks really picked up about the ongoing stadium saga. For those in St. Louis or surrounding area, anxiety levels are extremely high. There are people living or dying on every report or sound bite they hear. Okay, it’s not really quite that drastic but, it may very well feel like it for some. It’s hard to watch.

At the Joe Buck Classic celebrity golf tournament, I caught up with Joe Buck for a brief chat. He didn’t hold back at all in his sentiments about current St.Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke. He also spoke very eloquently about the ability of Dave Peacock to present the NFL with the best possible case for St. Louis to remain an NFL city. We had a quick hit on a few other things with Joe Buck. You just have to check the full video. Sorry for the shameless plug.

St. Louis should remain a NFL city. I recall hearing that after the football Cardinals left in 1987. That’s why we got treated to numerous snooze fest NFL exhibition games in the early 1990s. We all wanted to prove how much we still wanted football here and would support it.

The people have done their part. I’m not bucking against what Dave Peacock has said before in regards to filling the dome. I get it and support it. However, it really aggravates the hell out of me that St. Louis has to keep proving something to the NFL. Please! If anything the NFL should be glad that a city embraced another a team looking to escape one of the largest television markets in the United States, play half a season on part dirt/astro turf cookie cutter multi-purpose stadium, move into a dome with no legit place to tailgate unless you like mysterious pools of water, rocks and a bottle to be named later. Add on poor drafting, poor play and poor coaching, yet the St. Louis faithful paid for those expensive PSLs.

Four years later after moving to St. Louis, the Rams did something never before done in their history. They won a Super Bowl. The Rams were media darlings, merchandise was flying off the shelves and they were the talk of the town and shared top billing with the baseball team here. For those that troll, the baseball Cardinals went 17 years without appearing in a World Series, so the Rams success in St. Louis proved that this is not solely a baseball town.

Even after the Greatest Show On Turf closed down for good, the fans kept showing up. No matter what kind of bum-infested free-agents the team brought in. Drew Bennett? Craig Dahl? It didn’t matter. The fans showed up and supported the team. Head coaching flops Steve Spagnuolo and Scott Linehan ruined what was left of a competitive roster, yet St. Louis faithful still showed up.

Of course you’re not going to sell out if you consistently put a losing product out there on the field. It’s not fair to the guy or gal busting his/her assets for 40+ hours a week to have their pockets gouged for 10 games a year. The NFL doesn’t care about this. Rams owner Stan Kroenke doesn’t give a damn. He’s all about money. If he could, he’d sell the hole in a doughnut.

I think the NFL purposely created this cluster of madness but had no idea it would turn to this. Folks here feel helpless. The same could be said in San Diego and Oakland. I have no clue what’s next to come from the owners meetings. From this point on the NFL should feel some sort of obligation to a city, any city that keeps supporting a losing product with an absentee owner who cares about one thing only. Too bad it won’t happen. I just checked the seven day forecast in hell and it’s still not looking promising.

 

[RamBill]

NFL taking closer look at Los Angeles relocation fees
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...ng-closer-look-at-los-angeles-relocation-fees

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- There are many moving parts to the potential relocation of the St. Louis Rams, Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers to Los Angeles. But one that the league is beginning to examine is what the cost of moving will be for the teams that get the green light to go.

Relocation fees figure to be a big part of the equation, and though they won't likely be enough to prevent anyone from moving, the potential cost of a relocation could give some pause, especially if that tag reaches the exorbitant prices some are projecting.

Speaking at last week's NFL spring owners meetings, NFL executive Eric Grubman said the league has hired an outside consulting firm to help determine just what that cost will be.

“We’ve engaged an outside firm to help us look at various ways to analyze it,” Grubman said. “That’s not to say that our finance staff is not capable of doing any of the analysis, but sometimes it’s good to have an independent mind take a look at it. And so we’ve engaged a firm to help us and the committee do that."

There has been plenty of speculation that getting the opportunity to move to Los Angeles will lead to record-breaking fees. The theory being that the chance to move into a market the size of Los Angeles will automatically increase the value of the franchise, and for the other owners to surrender what's been a well-leveraged market like Los Angeles, it will be costly.

Some believe that for Stan Kroenke to relocate the Rams, the number could be as high as $500 million, with the Raiders and Chargers having to pay the same amount, only split between the two of them.

While Kroenke could easily afford such a fee, if it rose to that level, it could be something he has to consider knowing it would affect how quickly he'd be able to realize the new value of the club after a move and investing heavily in his own project in Inglewood. And he'd have to weigh that against a potential deal for a stadium in St. Louis that would undoubtedly come at a much cheaper price.

For now, there's no guarantee of what that final fee will be, but the league has at least begun preliminary work on it.

"We are not very far along in that," Grubman said. "They are just sort of designing the analysis, and we’re debating the different ways it can be looked at, and the different time frames it can be looked at. My best guess is that a relocation fee wouldn’t be defined until well toward the end of the process.”

When we'll reach the end of the process also remains up in the air. The league didn't officially move or condense the timeline to file for relocation in San Francisco, but it has made it clear that such a decision will probably be forthcoming in the late summer or early fall.

One thing we do know for sure, though, is that any team filing for relocation will know exactly what the cost is to relocate before filing to do so.

“Anybody’s who’s getting into it or asking for a vote would be understanding of what it is,” Grubman said.

Which means the league will determine that number before it opens the window to file.

 

[Angry Ram]

For those that troll, the baseball Cardinals went 17 years without appearing in a World Series, so the Rams success in St. Louis proved that this is not solely a baseball town.

I had no idea about this. Also confirms my experiences...STL is a sports town.

 

[blue4]

STL deserves to keep the Rams
By Palmer Alexander III

http://www.stlamerican.com/sports/s...cle_f799b3b0-02ee-11e5-a875-175ec6c7d7a6.html

Last week the NFL owners conducted more meetings and talks really picked up about the ongoing stadium saga. For those in St. Louis or surrounding area, anxiety levels are extremely high. There are people living or dying on every report or sound bite they hear. Okay, it’s not really quite that drastic but, it may very well feel like it for some. It’s hard to watch.

At the Joe Buck Classic celebrity golf tournament, I caught up with Joe Buck for a brief chat. He didn’t hold back at all in his sentiments about current St.Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke. He also spoke very eloquently about the ability of Dave Peacock to present the NFL with the best possible case for St. Louis to remain an NFL city. We had a quick hit on a few other things with Joe Buck. You just have to check the full video. Sorry for the shameless plug.

St. Louis should remain a NFL city. I recall hearing that after the football Cardinals left in 1987. That’s why we got treated to numerous snooze fest NFL exhibition games in the early 1990s. We all wanted to prove how much we still wanted football here and would support it.

The people have done their part. I’m not bucking against what Dave Peacock has said before in regards to filling the dome. I get it and support it. However, it really aggravates the hell out of me that St. Louis has to keep proving something to the NFL. Please! If anything the NFL should be glad that a city embraced another a team looking to escape one of the largest television markets in the United States, play half a season on part dirt/astro turf cookie cutter multi-purpose stadium, move into a dome with no legit place to tailgate unless you like mysterious pools of water, rocks and a bottle to be named later. Add on poor drafting, poor play and poor coaching, yet the St. Louis faithful paid for those expensive PSLs.

Four years later after moving to St. Louis, the Rams did something never before done in their history. They won a Super Bowl. The Rams were media darlings, merchandise was flying off the shelves and they were the talk of the town and shared top billing with the baseball team here. For those that troll, the baseball Cardinals went 17 years without appearing in a World Series, so the Rams success in St. Louis proved that this is not solely a baseball town.

Even after the Greatest Show On Turf closed down for good, the fans kept showing up. No matter what kind of bum-infested free-agents the team brought in. Drew Bennett? Craig Dahl? It didn’t matter. The fans showed up and supported the team. Head coaching flops Steve Spagnuolo and Scott Linehan ruined what was left of a competitive roster, yet St. Louis faithful still showed up.

Of course you’re not going to sell out if you consistently put a losing product out there on the field. It’s not fair to the guy or gal busting his/her assets for 40+ hours a week to have their pockets gouged for 10 games a year. The NFL doesn’t care about this. Rams owner Stan Kroenke doesn’t give a damn. He’s all about money. If he could, he’d sell the hole in a doughnut.

I think the NFL purposely created this cluster of madness but had no idea it would turn to this. Folks here feel helpless. The same could be said in San Diego and Oakland. I have no clue what’s next to come from the owners meetings. From this point on the NFL should feel some sort of obligation to a city, any city that keeps supporting a losing product with an absentee owner who cares about one thing only. Too bad it won’t happen. I just checked the seven day forecast in hell and it’s still not looking promising.

I have no idea who Palmer Alexander the third is, but that's a hell of a name. And a good summation of the feeling here. You know why we get no respect in the NFL? Because we've never had an Arrowhead. Never had a Soldier Field. We're an old town with no vintage stadium for announcers to wax poetic about. The Cards have Busch. Whole lot of commentator blathering about atmosphere and stuff.
We get this stadium on the river along with whatever team ends up there, we will finally have an iconic place that we can bore the shit out of our kids with stories about. And maybe finally the NFL will show this great football town some respect.

That's my theory.

 

[RamFan503]

NFL taking closer look at Los Angeles relocation fees
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...ng-closer-look-at-los-angeles-relocation-fees

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- There are many moving parts to the potential relocation of the St. Louis Rams, Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers to Los Angeles. But one that the league is beginning to examine is what the cost of moving will be for the teams that get the green light to go.

Relocation fees figure to be a big part of the equation, and though they won't likely be enough to prevent anyone from moving, the potential cost of a relocation could give some pause, especially if that tag reaches the exorbitant prices some are projecting.

Speaking at last week's NFL spring owners meetings, NFL executive Eric Grubman said the league has hired an outside consulting firm to help determine just what that cost will be.

“We’ve engaged an outside firm to help us look at various ways to analyze it,” Grubman said. “That’s not to say that our finance staff is not capable of doing any of the analysis, but sometimes it’s good to have an independent mind take a look at it. And so we’ve engaged a firm to help us and the committee do that."

There has been plenty of speculation that getting the opportunity to move to Los Angeles will lead to record-breaking fees. The theory being that the chance to move into a market the size of Los Angeles will automatically increase the value of the franchise, and for the other owners to surrender what's been a well-leveraged market like Los Angeles, it will be costly.

Some believe that for Stan Kroenke to relocate the Rams, the number could be as high as $500 million, with the Raiders and Chargers having to pay the same amount, only split between the two of them.

While Kroenke could easily afford such a fee, if it rose to that level, it could be something he has to consider knowing it would affect how quickly he'd be able to realize the new value of the club after a move and investing heavily in his own project in Inglewood. And he'd have to weigh that against a potential deal for a stadium in St. Louis that would undoubtedly come at a much cheaper price.

For now, there's no guarantee of what that final fee will be, but the league has at least begun preliminary work on it.

"We are not very far along in that," Grubman said. "They are just sort of designing the analysis, and we’re debating the different ways it can be looked at, and the different time frames it can be looked at. My best guess is that a relocation fee wouldn’t be defined until well toward the end of the process.”

When we'll reach the end of the process also remains up in the air. The league didn't officially move or condense the timeline to file for relocation in San Francisco, but it has made it clear that such a decision will probably be forthcoming in the late summer or early fall.

One thing we do know for sure, though, is that any team filing for relocation will know exactly what the cost is to relocate before filing to do so.

“Anybody’s who’s getting into it or asking for a vote would be understanding of what it is,” Grubman said.

Which means the league will determine that number before it opens the window to file.

I call bullshit. I'm going to guess they will have the LA situation figured out and know which team(s) wins the sweepstakes before announcing the fee, but the idea that teams will be going all that time and putting in a relocation application without knowing the fee? Yeah... no.

 

[bluecoconuts]

I believe so, but I'm sure there was reassurance that the LA venue would be put up if they were awarded another MLS team while there is no guarantee that the St. Louis stadium will be built if they were awarded the team. The St. Louis stadium hinges on there being an NFL occupant and of evidently that wasn't going to be settled in the time frame that the MLS needed. I'm just saying that it's short sighted to think this was only a sign that they see something in LA or any of the other cities vs St. Louis. It's no secret that St. Louis is big on soccer so there's more to it than just that, imo.

LA had two teams, one folded because of the owner (I posted about it earlier) was essentially being pretty racist, and trying to make the entire team Mexican, from the staff to the players, and was running the team into the ground so the MLS took it from him. This is the same-ish team, so it's not so much a brand new team, but they suspended operations for a while (similar to when the Rams suspended operations in Cleveland for a year) so they could get new ownership. These owners are building a new stadium so they don't have to share with the Galaxy anymore. That's all it is, it shouldn't even count honestly.

 

[bluecoconuts]

I call bullcrap. I'm going to guess they will have the LA situation figured out and know which team(s) wins the sweepstakes before announcing the fee, but the idea that teams will be going all that time and putting in a relocation application without knowing the fee? Yeah... no.

That's kind of what I'm feeling. I've heard some say that they expect all three teams to file, honestly I expect two of the teams to file. Maybe all three will so they don't tip their hand, but since one of the teams has to loose out, why do that and fuck them over in their home market? If Stan never files he can say that he never really wanted to move the Rams, and while some wont believe him, it can smooth things out over time. Same with Davis or Spanos, so it allows them to work a little in their home market without destroying their fanbase. It's a lot harder to do that when you filed and your fans know that you don't want to stay and instead are being forced to stay.

I'm thinking two teams file. If three teams file to move, then whichever team probably isn't expecting to stay in their home market much longer either (which would be the Raiders most likely).. That's my guess anyway.

 

[iced]

I call bullcrap. I'm going to guess they will have the LA situation figured out and know which team(s) wins the sweepstakes before announcing the fee, but the idea that teams will be going all that time and putting in a relocation application without knowing the fee? Yeah... no.

When we'll reach the end of the process also remains up in the air. The league didn't officially move or condense the timeline to file for relocation in San Francisco, but it has made it clear that such a decision will probably be forthcoming in the late summer or early fall.

One thing we do know for sure, though, is that any team filing for relocation will know exactly what the cost is to relocate before filing to do so.

“Anybody’s who’s getting into it or asking for a vote would be understanding of what it is,” Grubman said.

Which means the league will determine that number before it opens the window to file.

 

[mr.stlouis]

Hey, I can finally post here again. Whoop! I'm gonna be very diligent with my words.

All I know is Carson looks to be the front runner to LA as it stands. Unless SD or OAK give sweetheart deals then it looks to remain that way. If the Carson train gets derailed then I will be very concerned about the Rams relocating. I'm feeling really good about the whole thing right now, though. Just my .02

 

[RamFan503]

@iced I get all that but do you really think a team is going to decide to file right before the timeline to file? They are not going to make this decision in late December or January. Billion dollar companies don't work that way. The NFL will likely not announce the relocation fees to us or the media but the owners will know well in advance - I can almost guarantee you.

My best guess is that a relocation fee wouldn’t be defined until well toward the end of the process.”

This is what I call bullshit on. I also believe that the NFL will figure out what team is moving and then negotiate the fee based on previous discussions. The application will likely be a foregone conclusion and the terms of the move and what all the owners and the NFL get out of it will be far more important than the fee itself.

I'm not saying I know who it will be or that I am definitely right. I just don't see teams making that kind of decision in a few weeks when they could be on the hook for hundreds of millions in unknown fees. There almost has to be some sort of negotiated fee and moving conditions that will be known by the different owners.

If a corporation decides to look into moving their plant or HQ to another state/city, they will have all the figures on tax incentives and fees and environmental permits worked out and agreements in place well before then going through the decision process of if they should actually move.

 

[ramfaninsd]

STL deserves to keep the Rams
By Palmer Alexander III

http://www.stlamerican.com/sports/s...cle_f799b3b0-02ee-11e5-a875-175ec6c7d7a6.html

Last week the NFL owners conducted more meetings and talks really picked up about the ongoing stadium saga. For those in St. Louis or surrounding area, anxiety levels are extremely high. There are people living or dying on every report or sound bite they hear. Okay, it’s not really quite that drastic but, it may very well feel like it for some. It’s hard to watch.

At the Joe Buck Classic celebrity golf tournament, I caught up with Joe Buck for a brief chat. He didn’t hold back at all in his sentiments about current St.Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke. He also spoke very eloquently about the ability of Dave Peacock to present the NFL with the best possible case for St. Louis to remain an NFL city. We had a quick hit on a few other things with Joe Buck. You just have to check the full video. Sorry for the shameless plug.

St. Louis should remain a NFL city. I recall hearing that after the football Cardinals left in 1987. That’s why we got treated to numerous snooze fest NFL exhibition games in the early 1990s. We all wanted to prove how much we still wanted football here and would support it.

The people have done their part. I’m not bucking against what Dave Peacock has said before in regards to filling the dome. I get it and support it. However, it really aggravates the hell out of me that St. Louis has to keep proving something to the NFL. Please! If anything the NFL should be glad that a city embraced another a team looking to escape one of the largest television markets in the United States, play half a season on part dirt/astro turf cookie cutter multi-purpose stadium, move into a dome with no legit place to tailgate unless you like mysterious pools of water, rocks and a bottle to be named later. Add on poor drafting, poor play and poor coaching, yet the St. Louis faithful paid for those expensive PSLs.

Four years later after moving to St. Louis, the Rams did something never before done in their history. They won a Super Bowl. The Rams were media darlings, merchandise was flying off the shelves and they were the talk of the town and shared top billing with the baseball team here. For those that troll, the baseball Cardinals went 17 years without appearing in a World Series, so the Rams success in St. Louis proved that this is not solely a baseball town.

Even after the Greatest Show On Turf closed down for good, the fans kept showing up. No matter what kind of bum-infested free-agents the team brought in. Drew Bennett? Craig Dahl? It didn’t matter. The fans showed up and supported the team. Head coaching flops Steve Spagnuolo and Scott Linehan ruined what was left of a competitive roster, yet St. Louis faithful still showed up.

Of course you’re not going to sell out if you consistently put a losing product out there on the field. It’s not fair to the guy or gal busting his/her assets for 40+ hours a week to have their pockets gouged for 10 games a year. The NFL doesn’t care about this. Rams owner Stan Kroenke doesn’t give a damn. He’s all about money. If he could, he’d sell the hole in a doughnut.

I think the NFL purposely created this cluster of madness but had no idea it would turn to this. Folks here feel helpless. The same could be said in San Diego and Oakland. I have no clue what’s next to come from the owners meetings. From this point on the NFL should feel some sort of obligation to a city, any city that keeps supporting a losing product with an absentee owner who cares about one thing only. Too bad it won’t happen. I just checked the seven day forecast in hell and it’s still not looking promising.

the city did not embrace a team looking to escape, they called her and offered a sweetheart deal that could not and would not be matched!

 

[den-the-coach]

STL is a sports town.

That has never been up for debate, it's a great sports town and just a great city overall!

 

[Hacksaw]

OMG HAHAHA

 

[iced]

@iced I get all that but do you really think a team is going to decide to file right before the timeline to file? They are not going to make this decision in late December or January.

late summer/early fall to me is just a couple of months away

and there's also a big time gap between whats announced and what owners know

 

[RamFan503]

OMG HAHAHA

I wonder if St Louis folks know who that is.

 

[OldSchool]

Hey, I can finally post here again. Whoop! I'm gonna be very diligent with my words.

All I know is Carson looks to be the front runner to LA as it stands. Unless SD or OAK give sweetheart deals then it looks to remain that way. If the Carson train gets derailed then I will be very concerned about the Rams relocating. I'm feeling really good about the whole thing right now, though. Just my .02

Just curious but in your .02 what makes Carson a front runner to Inglewood?

 

[Hacksaw]

I wonder if St Louis folks know who that is.

I thought Captain Kangaroo was a national show, or was he LA local like Soupy Sales, Romper Room and Hobo Kelly?

 

[RamFan503]

late summer/early fall to me is just a couple of months away

and there's also a big time gap between whats announced and what owners know

Right - and that is just the timeline for deciding if they are going to move up the application date. If they also decide the fee around then, it might be soon enough. Still I think they negotiate the fee and know who is moving before applications are filed.