Bernie: More twists in the Rams-LA game
• By Bernie Miklasz
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_3abc21b2-d1dc-59e4-b254-14ab23ddcefa.html
PHOENIX • From what I understand, the freak-out level was running high among St. Louis football fans in reaction to a story written by Albert Breer on NFL.com.
If you haven't had a chance to read the piece, here's the link.
And here's one of the key passages from Breer's story:
"The early January announcement that Rams owner Stan Kroenke is planning an extravagant Inglewood stadium sent shockwaves through NFL circles, but — according to those with direct knowledge of the proceedings — was met with quiet applause at the league office, which has been waiting for a powerful plan like this one to get behind. And despite St. Louis and Missouri officials responding quickly with their own stadium vision, the momentum here has very clearly shifted west."
I'm not as bothered by this as many of you seem to be.
A while back I came to an unfortunate conclusion: the NFL can't be trusted. And the NFL will do what it wants to do.
So in that context, nothing really surprises me.
Including Breer's story.
When commissioner Roger Goodell told me he wanted the Rams to remain in St. Louis, I wanted to believe him. And I did at the time. But a lot's changed over the past two-plus years, and it would be foolish for me (or anyone) to believe that the NFL will sincerely look out for our town's interests.
This isn't to say that the NFL won't play a positive role in facilitating the STL stadium plan organized by Dave Peacock and Bob Blitz.
The league's first response — dispatch executive VP Eric Grubman to St. Louis — was encouraging.
But the level of trust in the NFL should only go so far.
When push comes to shove the league will do what's best for the league.
It's best to view all of the quotes and the stories through that prism.
The NFL (through various sources) is telling a lot of different things to different people. The league is very good at designing a message based on where the message's target audience.
This is a league that put Grubman in charge of preparing for the eventual return of NFL football to Los Angeles. But while Grubman is supervising the league's interests in Los Angeles, he's also going to meetings in St. Louis and Oakland to offer advice on how to keep their teams.
Does that sound logical to any of you?
Los Angeles lands a team only if another market loses a team. And the same powerful league executive is working both ends of the spectrum.
This seems to be a rather obvious conflict of interest.
This sets up a situation where you have one league executive (Grubman) traveling to St. Louis to try and reassure the locals ... and you have another NFL person (or persons) telling Breer that Los Angeles is looking great, and is closer to getting a team than it's been in a long time.
Part of Grubman's message during his visit to St. Louis was to make it clear that the NFL expected Kroenke to follow the league rules on franchise relocation. But Grubman also worked in the phrase "subjective judgments" several times — also letting it be known that when the owners sit down to vote, they can form their own version of reality and vote accordingly. The NFL owners can choose to ignore the rules if they want to.
I tried to stress that part in my column written after Grubman's visit.
In one 20-minute interview, Grubman reaffirmed his desire to help St. Louis ... and encouraged St. Louis to build the new stadium as quickly as possible ... but he wouldn't guarantee that a new stadium would keep the Rams in St. Louis.
All about those subjective judgments.
I can see why the NFL would have quietly applauded the Kroenke stadium plan.
I wrote this on Jan. 6:
"The NFL could decide that Kroenke represents its best opportunity to set up shop in Los Angeles. He checks off several important boxes. He has the money and the willingness to build his own stadium there. He has the real estate to house the project. He has an NFL team to anchor the Los Angeles stadium complex. The situation in Los Angeles has been a mess for 20 years, leaving a trail of flimsy stadium plans and promises. Kroenke’s all-encompassing commitment provides a neat, tidy package that can solve the NFL’s longstanding LA problem.
"Kroenke can deliver a Los Angeles solution. The NFL’s second-wealthiest owner is throwing down to go big into Los Angeles. With no other credible Los Angeles plans on the table, does the NFL have the stomach (and integrity) to cut Kroenke at the knees? Call me skeptical."
So if someone from the league (or from the Rams' front office, or both) are telling Breer that the Kroenke plan is looking pretty sweet right now, it comes as no surprise to me. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone in St. Louis.
Kroenke's plan gives the NFL a chance to get something going in LA — either by signing off on Stan's plan, or by using his plan to put pressure on groups that want to build a Los Angeles football stadium on a more attractive site.
Breer's story was also useful to Kroenke in that it changed the narrative by shifting the focus back to Los Angeles.
Peacock has been riding a pretty good wave of positive publicity over the past two or three weeks, with the national media picking up on the stadium plan here. Moreover, Peacock has been engaged in conversations with NFL owners. The pro-STL case was getting out there.
So how do you counteract that?
Steer the narrative away from St. Louis — where there has been some new momentum — and casts the sunshine on the possibilities in Los Angeles.
(By the way, just so we're clear: I'm not being critical of Breer in any way. He's just doing his job, and writing a story based on his reporting and his conversations with well-placed sources.)
Breer's also story serves a purpose in St. Louis. Let's repeat it for those who didn't understand it the first 100 times: if St. Louis wants to remain in the NFL, this is a time of urgency. Things are moving fast, and if the Peacock-Blitz plan has any chance of becoming a reality, it has to begin taking shape as soon as possible.
If the story demoralized Rams fans ... well, that's exactly what Kroenke wants.
As I've written before: one possible strategy is to poison the well and then make the claim that there's soft support for the Rams in St. Louis.
So if you want to give up, please understand three things:
1. There will be many more twists and turns to this story, so it's best to ride with it instead of overreacting to every news story, news nugget or speck of speculation.
2. By throwing in the towel, you are playing directly into Kroenke's hands, and thereby making it easier for the NFL to turn its back on St. Louis.
3. Peacock isn't giving up. Hardly. He's more driven than ever to make the stadium a reality. No matter how many times his efforts are undermined, Peacock will continue to make his case directly to the NFL, and make it as difficult as possible for the NFL to pull the Rams out of St. Louis — if in fact the NFL wants to do that.
The best thing Peacock can do is keep working hard on the stadium project and make it as difficult as possible for the NFL to pull out of this market — if in fact the NFL is inclined to do so.
Thanks for reading ...
— Bernie