Bernie: Kroenke double-teamed in LA
By
Bernie Miklasz
Greetings from Jupiter, Fla., where the Cardinals' pitchers are throwing, the sun is shining, and I'm inside the media work room at Roger Dean Stadium, taking some time to process
the stunning news from Southern California ...
The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders are partnering to build a privately financed stadium in Carson, a suburb located 13 miles south of Los Angeles.
I'll have more on this in Saturday's Post-Dispatch, but here are my initial, quick-hit thoughts:
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The Chargers and Raiders aren't willing to concede the LA territory without a fight. This has always been a race between three teams, with the Rams, Chargers and Raiders jockeying for position. Rams owner
Stan Kroenke made the first move by announcing his intention to build an 80,000-seat stadium on the old Hollywood Park grounds in Inglewood. And all of the momentum seemed to be in Kroenke's favor. Kroenke and his partners left little to chance, going as far as to throw more than $100,000 in "contributions" at Inglewood politicians to curry favor and expedite the process.
But rather than sit back and watch Kroenke roll in the tanks, pull the Rams out of the Midwest, invade SoCal and and take control of a lucrative market, the California-based Chargers and Raiders have mounted a defense of their home-state territory. They countered with a bold plan to go in together, hoping to put a double-team block on Kroenke with the stadium in Carson.
It was easy to underestimate Chargers owner
Dean Spanos and Raiders owner
Mark Davis; all they did was complain about their undesirable stadium situations without taking action. Well, instead of whining and begging, Spanos and Davis are trying to make their power move. Let's see what Kroenke has planned for a response. If nothing else, Spanos and Davis have made it abundantly clear that the plan to stand their ground and fight Kroenke. This isn't to say that Kroenke will lose. But now he'll have to go to battle instead of taking an easy victory stroll into Inglewood.
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For obvious reasons, this potentially is a positive development for St. Louis. If the Chargers and Raiders pull this off, then the NFL would have a two-team setup in Los Angeles. And the league could solve the longstanding LA problem with a California solution. Instead of opening the LA territory to a man (Kroenke) who played a major role in the abandonment of Southern California by helping
Georgia Frontiere cash in with the Rams in St. Louis, the NFL has an opportunity to take care of two California franchises that are stuck with the two worst stadium situations in the NFL. As one NFL executive told me several months ago: the league prefers that the California problem to be solved in California ... and not by stripping a franchise from another region. Well, here's the league's chance to do just that.
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You can't rule anything out when it comes to NFL greed, because there are no limits to it. But it's hard to imagine the NFL signing off on having three teams in Los Angeles. That would make no sense. None. So Kroenke could get squeezed out by the Raider-Charger alliance. Three teams, two spots. Who loses? Unless San Diego and Oakland suddenly come up with public dollars to fund new stadiums -- and what are the odds of that? -- how could the NFL turn its back on the one market, St. Louis, that's trying in earnest to build a new stadium to keep the Rams?
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Understand that right now the Edward Jones Dome is in better shape than the venues that house the Raiders and the Chargers. And St. Louis is trying to do even better, with a new stadium. If the NFL rolls over for Kroenke, and chooses Inglewood over Carson, the league will not only abandon a STL market that's trying to build a
second new stadium in 25 years. ... but the NFL would also fumble away a chance to get the Raiders and Chargers settled into a new stadium after years and years of waiting and hoping (in vain) for a resolution in their markets. You're going to let Kroenke walk away from a new stadium in St. Louis and keep Spanos and Davis locked into old, inadequate stadiums that should have been replaced many years ago? That's insane.
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That said, we should also take some time to wave the caution flag. As always, there's the possibility or more twists and turns. Several reasons: (1) the Carson plan could fall through, which would only open an easier path for Kroenke; (2) against the odds, San Diego and/or Oakland could come up with the funding for the stadiums that would stop the teams from moving; (3) Kroenke's wanton lust for Los Angeles is so extreme that the latest development could cause the man to go maniac-level rogue by attempting to whisk the Rams to LA as soon as possible in an attempt to blow up the Carson strategy.
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And then there's always the chance of other variables kicking in ... like Kroenke trying to buy the Raiders -- or trying to pick off the Raiders or the Chargers to become his partner in the Inglewood deal. This is madness, and anything is possible. Or the league brokering a deal with Kroenke and either the Raiders and Chargers for an outcome that would put Kroenke in LA and another team in St. Louis. And I'll say it again: keep an eye on Kroenke and Denver. This is all madness. Anything is possible.
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Would the NFL try to stop Kroenke? Well, that's been the big, big, question all along. No one knows if the league really has the spine to take on Kroenke. And no one knows if Kroenke really wants to take on the league in a long court battle my moving the Rams without formal approval. Kroenke technically shouldn't be allowed to own the Rams because he's in violation of the NFL rules prohibiting cross ownership. I suppose it's possible for the league to roll over for Kroenke again, but I'd like to believe that the NFL has some guts.
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The NFL is now faced with a situation where fans in three markets -- St. Louis, Oakland and San Diego -- view their teams as lame ducks that are poised to cut and run and the end of the 2015 season. And the league now has an absurd level of Los Angeles congestion, with three teams and at least four stadium plans competing for territorial advantage. Come on, commissioner
Roger Goodell. You're paid $35 million annually by the owners to run the league. Take charge of this mess and do something about it.
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Meanwhile, back in St. Louis ... stadium task-force leaders
David Peacock and
Bob Blitz and Missouri Gov.
Jay Nixon continue to grind away, moving the ball, picking up first downs, making progress and earning credibility at the NFL headquarters. That's all they can do right now: maximize the city's chances of staying in the NFL, one way or another.
Thanks for reading ...
—
Bernie
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_2d8c287c-e385-5a39-b944-26c116ea31de.html