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Dxmissile

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My question, how many of you living in Missouri paying the taxes on the stadium would even want to do this?
I would in a heart beat. All the new jobs this stadium would create is well worth it not to mention the boost in the local economy
 

Dagonet

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No, St. Louis has more than enough hotel space. If Indianapolis can host a super bowl which normally gets colder than St. LOUIS than why not st. Louis.

Just what I've always heard through the local media. We've had at least one hotel in downtown close recently.
 

Thordaddy

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It had to be in there. A really pretty good article by Bernie but he just can't write anything without making at least one of these kinds of comments. It's like a nervous tick with him.
RamBill said:
these incremental moves aren’t dramatic and don’t elicit bellowing from the “hot take” screamers, their lemmings, or the Web-based pundits in search of click bait.

GOOD of Bernie to include himself among the reactionaries
 

Thordaddy

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My question, how many of you living in Missouri paying the taxes on the stadium would even want to do this?
Although I don't live IN Mo. I do almost all of my commerce there and own several properties, even IF it caused me to have to coagh up a few hundred dollars to keep the team there I'd be fine with it,my issue with it if there was one would be forcing people who HATE the NFL to do the same. That said I believe the economic benefit to a city of being an NFL city are grossly underestimated and think any analysis is based upon factors some of which are incomplete.
I think the use taxes being on businesses that do most of their commerce with out of town visitors is a great way to recoup something for the infrastructure they use and the security they are in receipt of that they other wise would not pay for at all.
 

blue4

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I would in a heart beat. All the new jobs this stadium would create is well worth it not to mention the boost in the local economy

Not to mention the revitalization of a blighted area visible from the highway coming into the city. If the current plans are realized a long with the arch grounds it will do a lot for this city. You know, we have decent jobs, cheap housing, and thriving suburbs. If they can turn downtown around like Soulard has come around we could be on our way back to being a relevant city in terms of prestige. For the potential, the costs to me are well worth it.
 

Prime Time

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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...yor-explains-status-intent-of-stadium-effort/

Inglewood mayor explains status, intent of stadium effort
Posted by Mike Florio on February 12, 2015

butts1.jpg
Getty Images

Thursday’s guest-heavy PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio included a visit from Inglewood Mayor James Butts, who provided some more details about the status of the NFL stadium project in the town over which he presides.

Butts explained that, with enough verified signatures of registered voters in hand, City Council will now decide whether to commission a ballot initiative or to apply a green light to the project in other ways. He anticipates minimal opposition to the plan.

Butts has maximum optimism about the ability of the venue to attract one or two NFL teams, and other major events like the NCAA Final Four. The structure will resemble a giant car port, with a transparent lid but openings around the edges of the seating area, promoting natural ventilation.

He said that Ingelwood has had no discussions with any NFL teams, but Rams owner Stan Kroenke has already made clear his plan to be involved in the project. Which implies that his team will try to move there. Butts was careful to point out that Inglewood will respect whatever processes and procedures the league requires for approving any relocation.

Still, Butts nevertheless intends for Inglewood to build a state-of-the-art stadium that naturally will attract one or two NFL franchises to it, simply by its existence. Butts hopes that construction will begin in December 2015, and that the venue will open in 2018.

For the entire interview with Mayor Butts, click here at select Hour Two from today’s show.
 

Boffo97

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http://www.dailynews.com/sports/201...timate-hope-but-i-wouldnt-say-its-a-done-deal

NFL VP on L.A.: ‘I would say there’s legitimate hope. But I wouldn’t say it’s a done deal’

By Vincent Bonsignore, Los Angeles Daily News

NEW YORK >> NFL vice president Eric Grubman, the man in charge of overseeing the league’s return to Los Angeles and franchise retention in current NFL cities, has been a busy man lately.

With the league intent on making things work again in Los Angeles, and St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke making the bold move to partner with a California development company to build an 80,000-seat stadium on the site of the old Hollywood Race track in Inglewood, momentum is building toward L.A. getting professional football back for the first time in 20 years.

And Grubman is front and center in that process while also trying to make sure things work out for existing teams in existing markets.

Fact is, with the NFL not yet ready to expand beyond the current 32-team format, satisfying the Los Angeles market likely means departing from a current one.

And that makes Grubman’s job quite the balancing act, one he took a break from to sit down with the Los Angeles News Group in his New York office to shed some light on what’s really going on with the NFL and Los Angeles.

LANG: Los Angeles has been down this road before and got its hopes up, only to have things fall apart. With everything that’s gone on over the past few months, is there legitimate reason for hope right now?

EG: The words I would use to categorize it, or grade the probability, would lead me to conclude that hope makes sense. Faith makes sense would be even better. But the words I would actually use would be, there is a serious opportunity that has been building for the last several years. It’s taken a lot of time and a lot of effort from a lot of people. I might be the face of it at the league, but there are a dozen people working on this project. And there are people (with clubs) who have invested an incredible amount of time. And the fact is, there are people in the Los Angeles community who have really been digging in. All of those oars, pulling, have been making consistent and tangible progress. So I think there is legitimate hope. But I wouldn’t say it’s a done deal.

LANG: It just seems like serious momentum is building this time. Why now? What has changed?

EG: My wife has observed me for the last 25 years, and says one thing I’m really good at is the art of saying nothing. She says, ‘I listen to you describe the situation and then I realize you haven’t said which way it will come out.’ It will come out, and I think you can carve out for yourself the different angles. I think there are two things that are different. One is tangible, one is intangible. Referring back to my wife’s observation of my speech patterns, the intangible is that I have gone from making vague and bland statements to making vague and more excited statements. I haven’t changed the vague, but I’ve definitely changed the tone, the emphasis. That was deliberate, and I think that registers on people even if they don’t know the details because we have to do this kind of stuff in confidentiality.

The thing that’s tangible is that, both the league and the clubs have been willing to be on the record in a way that, while not making any definite statements, it’s been clear that we’re more willing to take a stand.

From the league’s viewpoint, we’ve been willing to put resources into leading the effort back, and going back a few years ago, even to the point of considering buying land as an option. And that was very noticeable to the people in the Los Angeles market. We didn’t put it on the front page of the newspaper, but people started hearing about it.

From a club perspective, a club goes from using mild reference and language to being possibly interested to (actually) buying land. And that’s a big step. You put all that together and I think it boils down to a brew that would suggest people think this is worth taking a look at.

LANG: Last December, the NFL alerted teams that there would be no move to Los Angeles in 2015 due to stadium and other uncertainties. Since then, Stan Kroenke partnered with a California land developer to build a stadium in Inglewood. To what extent has Kroenke settled any of those uncertainties?

EG: Let’s be clear why we said no relocation. This was not some unilateral, down-from-the-mountain decision on the part of the league office. This was after dozens of conversations with clubs that might be interested and with owners on committees, chairmen of committees. Now let’s take a step back and ask, what is wrong with this picture? It’s not just wanting to go to the Los Angeles market. You have to have a place to play permanently, your existing market has to have failed, and you have to have an approved plan between Point A and Point B. All of those things weren’t present in a way that could make the NFL proud. And, no one disagreed with that. So, while it could have been rushed and possibly done, we would not have been able to have the kind of pride and quality in execution that’s become a hallmark of the NFL. When that became apparent, there was no dissent. We talked to the clubs involved, as we said before, and while it may have been a surprise to the market, it wasn’t a surprise to those teams.

LANG: On the surface, it seems Stan Kroenke has settled two of the biggest issues facing Los Angeles over the years: Where a new stadium would be built and who would pay for it. He seems to be closing in on the third: Getting approved by city leaders. On the other hand, you have St. Louis also pushing the ball ahead on getting a new stadium built. Something might not add up in terms of a proving things couldn’t work in St. Louis. How does that get rectified?

EG: Our job up here is not to make things easy. It’s to do things in a way that reflects well on the NFL in its values and priorities and does right by its fans. Along the way, things can happen that you don’t expect. Our job is to do everything we can to make a club successful in its own market. Another part of our job is to develop new market opportunities. Until every one of the clubs is very successful with a road map moving forward of success, in their markets, it’s our job to do both of those things.

I don’t see that as being in conflict, I see that as hedges against one another. Not to get leverage, just because you have to have multiple irons in the fire. So, I don’t know what will happen if a Los Angeles opportunity proves out, and a St. Louis opportunity proves out. But I’m confident we can navigate to a place which makes sense for us and our values and does right by our fans.

LANG: Assuming all the questions are answered with Hollywood Park — where the stadium gets built, who pays for it and entitlement — what could you see derailing this from an owners’ standpoint in terms of the Rams not getting approval?

EG: I don’t see owners saying no to any site that’s viable and attractive, whether it’s Hollywood Park or downtown. If it’s viable and attractive and a team wants to go there and the plan is good, I don’t see any problem.

LANG: But it still comes down to the Rams needing 24 “yes” votes. Do you see that as an issue assuming all the boxes get checked off?

EG: Well, we’re leaving aside the boxes of, whoever is departing a market has to satisfy the relocation guidelines. If we’re confining the question to what would prevent a “yes” based on the Los Angeles factors. I think if they’re all positive, nothing would prevent a “yes” vote. If you’re also asking in that same question, the non-Los Angeles variables, then my answer is, I don’t know. That scale has two parts to it. “Yes” to the new market and “no” to whatever the old market proposes. Although, you know it’s possible that an old market proposes nothing. And if it proposes nothing and it’s not viable ...

LANG: I’m going to resist asking whether (the NFL) actually hopes that occurs so that it takes you out of that pickle.

EG: You might resist asking it, but I’m going to answer that question. Because that’s a really important question. I place no higher priority in my mission statement, to creating a viable, approvable plan in Los Angeles and creating a viable plan in St. Louis. I’m going to share a secret with you, if you think an impossible scenario is created by creating a terrific plan in Market One and a terrific plan in Los Angeles — and that’s a really hard decision for owners — that’s exactly what I want. That is my job. And let’s make no mistake, that’s what the commissioner wants me to do, that’s what the owners want me to do. There might be an individual owner that has a different point of view, but I have a league hat on and it’s my obligation and the obligation of the rest of the staff to make it work. And that’s what I aim to do. To create viable projects. Not to create competition, because it’s our obligation to make a team successful in its market, but also our obligation to make it work in Los Angeles.

LANG: Has Stan Kroenke met all obligations relative to the relocation guidelines thus far?

EG: I don’t think it’s fair for me to grade Mr. Kroenke in the abstract or in isolation. I will simply leave it as, all the clubs involved have engaged consistently with the league. We have guidelines in general and guidelines that are specific to the Los Angeles process. And every club that I’m aware of that has been interested in the Los Angeles market has been in full compliance with the general set of guidelines and the specific L.A. guidelines. I don’t have any criticism to make of any kind.

LANG: What do you make of the Hollywood Park plan?

EG: I think it’s a very interesting site, I think it gets terrific and viable when it gets entitled and we see the plan. I think it’s clear it is making progress. I think if it knocks off these progress points, then its grades go up. Whether or not it’s the best site, I don’t know.

LANG: The NFL recently formed a committee of owners overseeing the Los Angeles relocation process. What was the reason for forming it and what do you foresee its role being?

EG: That’s a very interesting question. The committee is not taking the place of an existing committee. So any committee that would lead to a judgment and a conclusion and a recommendation would go to membership. All voting rights are preserved, all committee rights are preserved. This committee is really in place so that between league meetings, which can be months apart, and between committee meetings, which can also be months apart, we have a sounding board and we have a representative group because they come from all of the committees and more that would be a part of this. We have a representative group that will act as a sounding board and can amplify once we’ve reached any short of judgment about how to navigate and can amplify that back to the clubs that might be interested. And it possibly could get involved, if we needed them to, if one of the site developers needed to have a conversation.

LANG: It’s been said and speculated that the NFL prefers a two-team model in Los Angeles. Is that accurate to say?

EG: No. It’s accurate to say what the NFL has said, and that is to the extent we are going to finance a stadium in the Los Angeles market, the Los Angeles guidelines say it has to be a two-team capable (plan). We have not taken any position publicly or privately that it needs to be one or it needs to be two teams. There is an open mind, but a stadium that is financed by us would be built as a two-team stadium.

LANG: How do you see the relocation fee getting hammered out, and the process in general playing out?

EG: To the first question, I don’t know how it gets hammered out. The answer to the second question is we have a lot of analysis to do, and there are factors in work that have not been in work in any recent situations. There is no formula to point to, no point on a board to point to. This is a process of a lot of owners getting up to speed on the issues. Thinking about it, talking about it amongst themselves, talking about it together. And I think that will play out over a period of time.
 

bluecoconuts

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EG: Let’s be clear why we said no relocation. This was not some unilateral, down-from-the-mountain decision on the part of the league office. This was after dozens of conversations with clubs that might be interested and with owners on committees, chairmen of committees. Now let’s take a step back and ask, what is wrong with this picture? It’s not just wanting to go to the Los Angeles market. You have to have a place to play permanently, your existing market has to have failed, and you have to have an approved plan between Point A and Point B. All of those things weren’t present in a way that could make the NFL proud. And, no one disagreed with that. So, while it could have been rushed and possibly done, we would not have been able to have the kind of pride and quality in execution that’s become a hallmark of the NFL. When that became apparent, there was no dissent. We talked to the clubs involved, as we said before, and while it may have been a surprise to the market, it wasn’t a surprise to those teams.

This is the kind of crap I hate from the NFL, to me that says "Yeah we could have done it, but we wanted to go ahead and put fourth a big dog and pony show to save face"

Especially when down below he says things like this:

I place no higher priority in my mission statement, to creating a viable, approvable plan in Los Angeles and creating a viable plan in St. Louis. I’m going to share a secret with you, if you think an impossible scenario is created by creating a terrific plan in Market One and a terrific plan in Los Angeles — and that’s a really hard decision for owners — that’s exactly what I want. That is my job. And let’s make no mistake, that’s what the commissioner wants me to do, that’s what the owners want me to do.

Then he'll turn around to St Louis and say the biggest thing they want is for teams to stay put, yada yada yada. You can't tell one market that the most important thing you guys want is for teams to stay put, and then tell another market the most important thing you guys want is for a team to move there. That right there is exactly why I have no faith in the NFL to pay attention to bylaws or anything like that.
 

8to12

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LANG: But it still comes down to the Rams needing 24 “yes” votes. Do you see that as an issue assuming all the boxes get checked off?

EG: Well, we’re leaving aside the boxes of, whoever is departing a market has to satisfy the relocation guidelines. If we’re confining the question to what would prevent a “yes” based on the Los Angeles factors. I think if they’re all positive, nothing would prevent a “yes” vote. If you’re also asking in that same question, the non-Los Angeles variables, then my answer is, I don’t know. That scale has two parts to it. “Yes” to the new market and “no” to whatever the old market proposes. Although, you know it’s possible that an old market proposes nothing. And if it proposes nothing and it’s not viable ...[/QUOTE

Hmmmm, "leaving aside the relocation guidelines".... did he just say they are not going to apply guidelines to a team like the Rams?
 

blue4

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I think it's safe to assume we're not going to get real answers from the league.
 

Boffo97

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Hmmmm, "leaving aside the relocation guidelines".... did he just say they are not going to apply guidelines to a team like the Rams?
I think he was just trying to say that everything looks good on the L.A. side of things and if anything does stop a move, it would be through St. Louis stopping it rather than L.A. failing somehow. I think.
 

blue4

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I think he was just trying to say that everything looks good on the L.A. side of things and if anything does stop a move, it would be through St. Louis stopping it rather than L.A. failing somehow. I think.

He didn't say it, but it should be taken as a strong hint.
 

BuiltRamTough

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This says it all


EG: I don’t see owners saying no to any site that’s viable and attractive, whether it’s Hollywood Park or downtown. If it’s viable and attractive and a team wants to go there and the plan is good, I don’t see any problem.
 

Goose

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This says it all


EG: I don’t see owners saying no to any site that’s viable and attractive, whether it’s Hollywood Park or downtown. If it’s viable and attractive and a team wants to go there and the plan is good, I don’t see any problem.

I can think of at least one owner a little south of LA that may disagree with that statement.
 

ChrisW

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Now let’s take a step back and ask, what is wrong with this picture? It’s not just wanting to go to the Los Angeles market. You have to have a place to play permanently, your existing market has to have failed, and you have to have an approved plan between Point A and Point B

What tells you that your existing market has failed? As a St. Louis fan, I see the existing market as not having failed. Does this block a move? Who the F knows at this point.
 

Rmfnlt

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I like to think of myself as a fairly intelligent person.

But, after reading his comments? I got nothing from them and now my brain hurts.

Useless stuff to me.
 

ChrisW

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I like to think of myself as a fairly intelligent person.

But, after reading his comments? I got nothing from them and now my brain hurts.

Useless stuff to me.

It seems like every answer was full of double talk. Very frustrating to both fan bases.
 
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