New: Latest on Kroenke, Rams and NFL in STL

[RamFan503]

Last I heard a lot of city council members didn't want the Raiders as well. While LA isn't naming teams, I'm certain Mayor Butts has spoken to Stan about moving and will tell the Inglewood city council members this. I know he says he hasn't discussed it, but its politics, they're not going to do this without knowing a team is coming. If they were to change to the Raiders, if councils really are nervous about that, they may change their tune.

Has anyone here been to a Raiduhs game when they played in LA? If that is what they would bring again, I certainly wouldn't want them. That was just freaking ridiculous. I have never seen anything like it in my life honestly. The last game I went to was Joe Montana's final regular season game. There was more action in the stands than there was on the field. They had a line of police officers up the walk way in the stands at both endzones and every ten minutes it seemed, there was a sea of blue engulfing a bunch of black jacket wearing gang bangers. Screw that.

 

[RamFan503]

A Mark Davis owned Rams team sounds like the worst thing I've ever heard. You thought 1989-today was some inept years, just wait til you see the Davis owned Rams.

No kidding.

 

[MrMotes]

Most of us L.A. Fans hate the idea of the Raiders moving to L.A. Just imagine how the Chargers must feel about it...

 

[Boffo97]

It would have made more sense to let Khan buy the Rams and him buy the Raiders, but hey. It's just an entire city being bent over for money he doesn't need or is even going to notice.

Aaaand deep breath.....back to even keel once again. You gotta let these thing out once a week or so.

The problem there was that no one "let" anyone do anything. Kroenke had the right to buy the team because of his minority ownership.

 

[RamFan503]

The problem there was that no one "let" anyone do anything. Kroenke had the right to buy the team because of his minority ownership.

Actually, it was a condition he had put into the agreement when he purchased his minority ownership. I could be wrong but my understanding was that is pretty uncommon, though any other minority owner would be privy to offers and have the opportunity to one up another would-be buyer. But I still don't think a majority owner would be forced to sell to a minority owner without that clause. In this case, Stan merely had to wait until a real offer was worked out that had all the makings of going through and then match it. It only made sense for him to wait that long in reality. You don't offer to match an offer that would likely fall through.

 

[Sum1]

Has anyone here been to a Raiduhs game when they played in LA? If that is what they would bring again, I certainly wouldn't want them. That was just freaking ridiculous. I have never seen anything like it in my life honestly. The last game I went to was Joe Montana's final regular season game. There was more action in the stands than there was on the field. They had a line of police officers up the walk way in the stands at both endzones and every ten minutes it seemed, there was a sea of blue engulfing a bunch of black jacket wearing gang bangers. Screw that.

That was also 20+ years ago. It's hard to really say that the crowds would be the same. Even some punk that was 15 - 18 years old at the time acting a fool is now in his mid to late 30s...you'd hope people would grow up, but given that there are plenty of people who don't (I see them often) you would think just naturally aging would make it hard for people to do things they did in their younger days.

 

[Rams and Gators]

2. The NFL gives Kroenke the go-ahead signal to Los Angeles. The league directs Davis and the Raiders to St. Louis.

Change the name of the Raiders (don't care what to) and accredit the 1999 Super Bowl to "The 1995-2015 St Louis franchise" and I'd love that solution.

No more dealing with Kroenke. A new stadium. No more listening to "LA Rams" fans. It just has too many positives to ever happen in reality .

 

[bluecoconuts]

Has anyone here been to a Raiduhs game when they played in LA? If that is what they would bring again, I certainly wouldn't want them. That was just freaking ridiculous. I have never seen anything like it in my life honestly. The last game I went to was Joe Montana's final regular season game. There was more action in the stands than there was on the field. They had a line of police officers up the walk way in the stands at both endzones and every ten minutes it seemed, there was a sea of blue engulfing a bunch of black jacket wearing gang bangers. Screw that.

That's essentially why they're not for it really. A lot of LA gang members rep Raiders gear, so the cities don't want to shove a bunch of different gangs into a building, give them beer, and then let them get angry. I think the Raiders best move is to move out of state and attempt at a fresh start. Maybe Toronto, Canadians are more peaceful.

 

[bluecoconuts]

It's an interesting thought. With an unheard of tool in your tool chest that is the top 25% clause, do you think Khan really just nice guys his way through the negotiations? I don't.

Khan filed a lawsuit against a family run business that he took majorjty interest in, to take it over completely and remove them from ownership. Apparently he started firing people, and after there was a "waste" among the otherwise profitable business, and the owners 10 year old boy wrote a letter to him pleading to let his parents keep their bakery (which they founded, obviously)... The lawsuit is still going on as far as I know.

Its safe to say Khan, who is locked into his lease until 2030 unless he and the other 31 owners open the books to show he made less than the league average (which there is no way they do that), isn't exactly some nice easy going negotiator. He may be doing the same exact thing for all we know. Maybe he decides to work with the city, maybe he decides to move to London. Who knows?

 

[blue4]

It's an interesting thought. With an unheard of tool in your tool chest that is the top 25% clause, do you think Khan really just nice guys his way through the negotiations? I don't.

No but Khan also doesn't have 200,000,000,000 plus infinity dollars to build his own stadium and pay relocation fees. Nor does he have clout in real estate.

 

[blue4]

Look, the Khan thing was just a little mini rant that I failed to put in blue font. Believe me, it will never happen again. In no way do I believe that he is the salt of the earth, just that he'd be more manageable due to a much smaller fortune.

 

[RedAlice]

Most of us L.A. Fans hate the idea of the Raiders moving to L.A. Just imagine how the Chargers must feel about it...

I have only been to Raider @ Charger games for the Raider "experience." It is beyond any game experience I have known - you spend as much time watching those around you pulled out by security for fighting as you do watching the actual game. Normally, I see five or so pulled out by me, and that is from a sample pool of three games. It is both Charger and Raider fans instigating - those fan bases hate each other with a fire hotter than anything I've seen anywhere. (I don't even think Rams fans would be as violent to Pats fans).

If anyone thinks that the Raiders and Chargers are going to happily share a stadium in LA - they are wrong. Charger fans are the sweetest and hate only the Raiders. I don't think Charger fans hate anything other than the Raiders - they mostly love everyone.

 

[Boffo97]

I'm not talking about action taken by the League against Kroenke... I'm talking about action taken by Kroenke against the League's decision, whether overt (lawsuit) or simply refusing to take a "no" decision as anything other than a "not right now" decision.

Unless what you're talking about is the League not taking any real action against Kroenke if they rule that he can't move and he "goes rogue" and does so anyway. Then yeah, I would agree that I don't think the League would take substantive action against Kroenke.

Change the name of the Raiders (don't care what to) and accredit the 1999 Super Bowl to "The 1995-2015 St Louis franchise" and I'd love that solution.

No more dealing with Kroenke. A new stadium. No more listening to "LA Rams" fans. It just has too many positives to ever happen in reality .

I cannot see either the Raiders or Chargers getting their name changed as part of the move unless they do the Brown thing again where they promise San Diego or Oakland a new expansion team with the historic name. And I don't think the League is in any hurry to expand any time soon. 32 is a perfect number for schedule making.

 

[Boffo97]

Yeah. If things come to that, the NFL fighting Kroenke would get really ugly. And of course, while it would suck royally for people in and near St. Louis, I just don't see a motivation there for the League to get involved in a fight it won't win. Losing a lawsuit won't stop things from being like they were in the 90's regarding relocation, if they are indeed different now in anything but word.

 

[Boffo97]

If the NFL tried to stop Kroenke in substantive way, be it punishment or taking over the franchise, just because he wanted to move and the NFL said no and he did it anyway, it would absolutely be a lawsuit. And Kroenke would almost certainly get a stay on any punishment the NFL tried to give until the lawsuit (which I agree would never end) was settled. At the end of the day, it's his team, and the NFL will have a very hard time telling him he can't do what he wants with it without being targeted by an antitrust suit.

Only way it wouldn't result in a lawsuit is if the NFL issued some sort of slap on the wrist punishment that Kroenke didn't see as worth the bother to fight.

All this said, as long as Kroenke continues to jump through the hoops to make this whole process look good, I'm all but certain the owners will go along with him, as it could be any of them in that scenario in the future. As Hartmann said, the argument that the Rams had a lease, went through arbitration, then presented a plan to bring the EJD into compliance, prevailed and St. Louis declined is going to go far (IMO) to satisfy the requirement of trying in good faith to stay.

 

[RedAlice]

Ok, so this is the crazy thing. Let's say I was someplace where I could hear a prominant owner say things after a few drinks with only a few people......

The thing that was the most curious is not LA: it's the international expansion. Goodell has put gold in the eyes of the owners. He wants London, Mexico City and Toronto in five years time. ?

I want the NFL in the US only.