Rams Approved To Relocate

[RamBill]

Only one obvious conclusion for St. Louis: The fix was in
By Howard Balzer

http://www.ksdk.com/story/sports/nf...one-obvious-conclusion-st-louis-fix/78730048/

HOUSTON - At the end of the day, it's fair to say the fix was in. We never really had a chance. Is there any other conclusion to reach?

After all, in a year in which the National Football League will celebrate the golden anniversary of its championship game, the Super Bowl, league owners voted Tuesday to support the man with the most gold, Rams owner Stan Kroenke, approving the relocation of the team from St. Louis to a Los Angeles-area stadium in Inglewood.

It was Kroenke who first helped the Rams move to St. Louis from Anaheim in 1995 when he joined then-owner Georgia Frontiere as a 40-percent partner. Now, 21 years later, he and the owners allowed the relocation despite a stadium plan that included $400 million of public money and cost $16 million to achieve what it did.

Yet, with straight faces, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stood at the podium and talked about how "we have not been successful in getting stadiums done in the home markets."


Kroenke claimed he had engaged with the community and looked for an "alternative, but it didn't succeed."

Really? It all sounds like the theory of the big lie. Keep saying it enough and you actually begin believing it. Most eye-opening was the decision that was reached even after the LA Opportunities Committee recommended the Carson plan for the Chargers and Raiders. All along, Chargers owner Dean Spanos had said he had no interest in partnering with Kroenke or with the Inglewood project. However, when it became apparent early in the day that there weren't enough votes to get that deal approved, everything shifted quickly.

The eventual deal was certainly one no one could have anticipated. The Chargers have an option that expires on Jan. 15, 2017, to be the second team in Inglewood, unless a referendum to approve public financing for a new stadium in San Diego is approved prior to Nov. 15, 2016. If that happens, the option could be extended until Jan. 15, 2018. The Raiders have a conditional option to be the second team, and that period would begin on the day that the Chargers' option expires.

Said Raiders owner Mark Davis, "This is not a win for the Raiders. We have to work hard to find a home."

Most remarkable is two teams that have been trying in vain to get a new stadium for more than a decade have now been given a reprieve and will be given an extra $100 million to boot. That's right. An extra $100 million. The same figure that Goodell said was a non-starter for the riverfront stadium plan.

When I asked New York Giants owner Steve Tisch how that money could be viewed as a negative for the St. Louis plan but is being provided for the Chargers and Rams, he said, "I can't answer that."

The league's relocation rules have been ignored and now should be shredded, just like the cross-ownership rules should be that allowed Kroenke to transfer ownership of his NBA Denver Nuggets and NHL Colorado Avalanche to his wife.

After the decision both the task force and Gov. Jay Nixon issued statements. From the task force: "Today's decision by the NFL concludes a flawed process that ends with the unthinkable result of St. Louis losing the Rams. Over the past 15 months, our stadium task force has delivered in every respect to what the NFL demanded of St. Louis to keep our team. More important, over the past 21 seasons, most of them dire, St. Louis has been remarkably supportive of and faithful to the Rams. We will leave it to the NFL to explain how this could happen and hope the next city that may experience what St. Louis has endured will enjoy a happier and more appropriate outcome.

"Here in St. Louis and throughout our region, we are incredibly grateful for the energy and support we received during this journey. What St. Louis was able to accomplish in a very, very short time was, and is, amazing. That our collective efforts will not be rewarded, or recognized, is very unfortunate. We all deserve better, but never forget that we just showed everyone and ourselves what St. Louis is capable of achieving. The best days for St. Louis are not far away."

Nixon had an interesting take on just what might be next:

"Tonight's decision is disappointing, and a clear deviation from the NFL's guidelines. It is troubling that the league would allow for the relocation of a team when a home market has worked in good faith and presented a strong and viable proposal. This sets a terrible precedent not only for St. Louis, but for all communities that have loyally supported their NFL franchises. Regardless of tonight's action, the fact remains that St. Louis is a world-class city deserving of a world-class NFL team. We will review the NFL's decision thoroughly before determining what next steps to take. In particular, we are interested in their justification for departing so significantly from the NFL's guidelines after St. Louis had - in record time - presented a proposal for a first-class stadium."

Jones claimed after the vote, "This was not a vote against St. Louis, which is a great city. There can be opportunity there."

When asked what that might be, Jones said, "It can happen." Right. Just more lip service from a league that sand-bagged St. Louis and left Spanos and Davis feeling like they'd been hit by a truck. And the league wouldn't even care if they suffered concussions for their trouble.

Howard Balzer hosts The Blitz from 1-3 pm Monday-Friday on 590 The Fan and 590thefan.com. He will be reporting this week on the station from Houston. You can follow him daily on Twitter @hbalzer721.

 

[RamBill]

Super Bowl XXXIV champion D’Marco Farr shares his thoughts on the Rams relocating to Los Angeles, recollects his time playing for the franchise in both cities and the gives the fans’ reactions from St. Louis. He appears on ESPN Radio's Russillo & Kanell Show.

Listen to D'Marco Talk LA Rams

 

[RamBill]

Goodbye, St. Louis Rams; next stop, LA
• By David Hunn

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_ae537abe-8471-5ac3-9edc-2c3174ce7fd9.html

HOUSTON • National Football League owners on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to strip the Rams from St. Louis and send the team to owner Stan Kroenke’s proposed $2 billion stadium in Los Angeles County.

The owners also agreed, after more than 10 hours of presentations and negotiations, to allow Dean Spanos to move his San Diego Chargers — but not to the site he proposed. Instead, after multiple closed-door meetings, Spanos agreed to consider leasing or buying into Kroenke’s stadium in Inglewood, southwest of downtown L.A.

The Rams will play in a temporary home in the Los Angeles area next season.

The news almost immediately drew outrage from St. Louis fans, and disappointment from local leaders.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said in a statement that the NFL ignored the facts, the strength of the market, the local plan to build a new stadium, and the loyalty of St. Louis fans, “who supported the team through far more downs than ups.”

St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger said he was “bitterly” disappointed.

Dave Peacock, co-chairman of the task force to build a new football stadium here, called his work with the NFL more “contemplated and contrived than I realized.”

“We’d aim for a target, hit it, and they’d say, no the target was over here,” he said of the NFL’s direction.

And lifelong fans, such as Mickey Right, were crestfallen.

“This whole thing’s made me want to become a basketball fan,” said Right, who visited the Edward Jones Dome late Tuesday in homage. “It just really loses your faith in the NFL. It’s supposed to be a league of integrity.”

The Rams and the Chargers, if the team moves, will each pay a $550 million relocation fee.

Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis is, for now, left out of moving plans. Spanos had worked with him for at least a year on a two-team stadium in Carson, Calif., just south of Kroenke’s site.

“We’ll see where Raider Nation ends up here,” he said after the meetings. “We’ll be looking for a home.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said after the meetings that Davis will have the opportunity to take the second spot in Inglewood, if Spanos declines. Also, the league has agreed to pay an extra $100 million — beyond the $200 million in NFL stadium construction funds — to either Spanos or Davis, whichever stays in his hometown.

Goodell called both the Carson and the Inglewood projects “outstanding.”

But he said he expected Kroenke’s plan to become “one of the greatest” sports and entertainment complexes in the world.

“We have the return of the Los Angeles Rams to their home,” Goodell said. “We have a facility that is going to be absolutely extraordinary in the Los Angeles market that I think fans are going to absolutely love. And I think it’s going to set a new bar for all sports, quite frankly. And, that, we’re very proud of.”

Those close to the process said after the meeting that it was Kroenke’s stadium vision — in its physical beauty, surrounding redevelopment, and its pitch to house the NFL’s substantial media businesses — that swayed owners. They came into the meeting, insiders said privately, liking his plan better.

Still, they had to vote twice to cut the deal. The first vote favored Kroenke, 20-12, but failed to get the necessary three-fourths of the league’s 32 owners, as required when a team applies to move to a new city.

The owners then took a break while several met behind closed doors with Spanos and Davis.

The final vote came in 30-2, several sources told the Post-Dispatch — and left St. Louis without an NFL team, again.

ST. LOUIS SAGA

The day was historic for the league. Owners have never agreed to relocate two teams at once.

And it ends a year of deliberations by finally returning the NFL to Los Angeles, which has been without a team for more than two decades.

Most credit Kroenke for starting the race. Three years ago, the billionaire real estate developer took his landlords at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis to arbitration over the now-infamous “first tier” clause in their lease. The clause required the state of Missouri, city of St. Louis and St. Louis County to renovate the Dome — for about $700 million — up to the league’s “first tier,” or top eight stadia. Local officials declined, and, as prescribed in the lease, the Rams went year-to-year at the Dome.

Two years ago, Kroenke bought land in Inglewood, next to the Los Angeles International Airport. Just a year ago, he announced he was building a “world-class” stadium there.

Spanos has said publicly that he took Kroenke’s move as a direct threat to the Chargers’ fan base, one-fourth of which comes from L.A., he said. Soon after Kroenke’s announcement, Spanos and Davis announced a two-team stadium in Carson.

In the meantime, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon named a stadium task force, which proposed a $1.1 billion open-air stadium on the St. Louis riverfront — with $400 million in public funding — just north of downtown.

The past year featured regular revelations. At some point, nearly every pundit made a prediction.

Then, last week, the league’s relocation filing period opened, and all three teams submitted. Kroenke pitched a sparkling stadium set among shops, restaurants and hotels. His proposal also blasted St. Louis, calling the city “struggling,” and the region unable to sustain three professional sports teams.

Moreover, Kroenke said, Nixon’s stadium plan was so inadequate, not only would the Rams decline, but any NFL team that took the deal was on the path to “financial ruin.”

Officials, from Mayor Slay to Sen. Claire McCaskill, were outraged. Nixon’s stadium task force sent a point-by-point response to the league.

But, this past weekend, Goodell sent a report to all owners saying that the task force plan was inadequate.

Early on Tuesday, it seemed like St. Louis fans could hold on to hopes that owners might vote otherwise. The league’s Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities, made up of six influential owners, recommended in favor of the Carson project.

But by midday, it didn’t seem to matter. Kroenke’s proposal took top billing in early votes, and the owners broke several times, with L.A. committee members meeting in private with Spanos and Davis.
FUTURE OF NFL
IN ST. LOUIS

Late Tuesday a triumphant Kroenke took the stage, unflinchingly, in a large room at the Westin Hotel, site of the meeting. “This is the hardest undertaking that I’ve faced in my career,” Kroenke said. “I understand the emotional side.”

Kroenke, infamous for ducking the spotlight, spoke haltingly, but answered every question asked by dozens of reporters at the news conference. It was the most he had said to St. Louis in two years.

And he was unapologetic.

“We worked hard, got a little bit lucky, and had a lot of people help us,” he said, nodding to league staff.

“We have to have a first-class stadium product.”

After the press conference, as NFL security ushered Goodell away from the throngs, the commissioner stopped for a moment to discuss the NFL’s future in St. Louis.

“We haven’t had an opportunity to speak to the governor; of course, I will,” Goodell told the Post-Dispatch. “I think that’s got to be a decision we jointly have to make.

“It’s going to take a high-quality stadium that we’re comfortable with,” Goodell said. “That’s a starting point.”

And then, he said, they’ll have to match St. Louis to a team.

 

[DenverRam]

why was my goodbye turned into this thead?

I get to watch a bunch of bandwagon clowns who have not been here the entire season, now come here and post LA rams crap in the thread i originally started to say goodbye to some people on this forum. Actual Fans, Who posted on this forum all season long, not ones who just showed up yesterday and starts talking about how we STL people are just unloyal.

Disgusting.

 

[Ram Quixote]

why was my goodbye turned into this thead?

I get to watch a bunch of bandwagon clowns who have not been here the entire season, now come here and post LA rams crap in the thread i originally started to say goodbye to some people on this forum. Actual Fans, Who posted on this forum all season long, not ones who just showed up yesterday and starts talking about how we STL people are just unloyal.

Disgusting.

Those posters have been banned.

 

[Mojo Ram]

I think they've already revealed their new uniforms all season long you saw coaches and players wearing that old blue and white logo from the 60's and 70's , and the art showing the new stadium is blue and white

coincidence ????

I noticed this too awhile back but didn't want to stir shit up or say anything too soon.
I noticed also, that in any logos in backdrops, apparel and gear etc...that the city had been missing from it. Everything was just "Rams" or a Rams logo and nothing else. Could have been a deliberate subliminal message...or just my imagination.

I would love to see the Blue & Whites resurrected, or even the pre-2000 uni's.

 

[Mojo Ram]

Very impressive, that Inglewood stadium. I see from renderings that it will have a glass roof. That shouldn't be a concern, considering it's a decent distance from the San Andreas fault. Hey, it's only money anyway.

Lol. Yikes.

 

[RamBill]

ESPN NFL Nation Rams reporter Nick Wagoner breaks down how the Rams’ relocation came together, what the ramifications are, what hurdles they still have to cross, what kind of team Los Angeles will be getting and if St. Louis will be able to get another team.

Listen to Wagoner Interview

 

[RamBill]

CBS Sports’ Adam Schein discusses the Rams getting approval to move to LA and build a stadium. Schein says St.Louis is a baseball town and the Rams should fire Jeff Fisher, among other things.

Watch Schein Talk Rams Move

 

[Ramatik]

I don't know. I mean, I know that people need a chance to vent. And they are upset. But a fix? How can it be a fix? If you honor your contract there is no fix. There is no move.

I've been there. And most of my friends that are Ram fans don't live in SoCal. From all over. But I understand how it feels to lose your team. But I don't get the "blaming" of Kroenke. Georgia was lured away from LA and exploited by her greed with the sweetheart deal of all deals. The City didn't keep their end of the bargain. Went to binding arbitration... nope still not going to do it. You pay for it. And the guy said "Fine, I'm out". Really, what more to it is there?

 

[LesBaker]

I doubt we ever support building another stadium again. It's obvious you can't trust the NFL, and I wouldn't support public funds for a stadium again if we don't come away with the Raiders or something right now.

I'll add this because I agree with you.

Goodell just told STL that their stadium plan didn't cut it. It has to be a world class venue or nothing going forward I guess. He said he will speak to the city eventually. But why wold they trust him AT ALL, they just did everything that was asked of them and he broke it off in their ass anyway! I don't see STL dropping 400MIL or more to get an NFL team knowing the NFL has no problem shafting them.

 

[RamBill]

Peter King talks to Bernie about Stan Kroenke, not wanting to make it work in STL, the lucrative Stadium deal the Rams got in STL, the move to LA, and an NFL playoff preview.

Listen to King Talk Rams Move

 

[IowaRam]

 

[RamBill]

Pat Haden, the athletic director at the University of Southern California, reacted to the news that the Rams will return to Los Angeles. Fred Roggin has the story for KNBC-LA

Watch Haden's Comments

 

[LesBaker]

I don't think that is true, User. I think the NFL recognizes the city of STL is a future partner, they just do not rank above LA in terms of importance to the league. This is a business, and their television contract is going to boom with the LA coverage they now have. The overall financial health of the league is more important than anything else.

I mentioned this to a bud of mine who is a Raiders fan over a year ago... Neither Davis nor Spanos had the money or expertise to bring the NFL back to LA. It was always going to be Stan because he has both those things and when he put together that over-the-top stadium plan it was game over.

But again, don't think the NFL does not recognize how quickly the city almost cobbled together a plan on the waterfront. IMO at least.

LA is already included in the TV deal, what you are saying is a myth/misconception.

 

[LesBaker]

I'm actually not sure it does put LA out of the leverage position. If SD and Oak put together plans to keep their teams in light of the additional $100 million, the ability for the Inglewood stadium to house a second team carries the possibly greater cache that a team could move any time and not have to play in a temporary venue.

I would agree however that St Louis and San Antonio hold the best option as it sits.

The plans are for the stadium to be able to house two teams so it'll be leverage. Unless he decides to change the plans because the Raiders and Chargers get new stadiums or because he doesn't want to bother with it.

Maybe he can own two NFL teams in LA..........

 

[RamBill]

An NFL return to St. Louis is difficult to envision
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...l-return-to-st-louis-is-difficult-to-envision

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- After the St. Louis football Cardinals departed for Arizona in 1987, it took eight years before the NFL returned to the city in the form of the Rams.

Now that the Rams are on their way back to Los Angeles after garnering league approval for relocation Tuesday, the question of when -- or if -- the league will again put a team in St. Louis has resurfaced.

It's a question that has no definitive answer because something that's true now might not be true tomorrow any more than it might be 30 years from now. Not long after the owners approved the Rams' move, it was Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (of all people) who offered support for the city.

"Don't rule St. Louis out," Jones said. "It's got too much backbone, too much tradition. It's got a lot more heart. St. Louis is not only a great city, it is the heart of America. It just didn't have it right this time."

Those words almost certainly ring hollow in the Gateway City after Jones' clear and relentless efforts to help Rams owner Stan Kroenke get his Inglewood project approved and move his team out of town. They might carry even less weight for reasons that go beyond the fact that they came from an owner who actively worked against St. Louis in this situation.

In the hours that followed the decision to send the Rams to Los Angeles, the owners of the two teams most often connected to a potential move to St. Louis strongly shot down that notion.

Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis has repeatedly said he's not interested, and though he said he would look at just about every option for his team, that apparently didn't include St. Louis. Asked directly if he'd consider it, he simply responded "absolutely not."

Shahid Khan
Jaguars owner Shad Khan, who doesn't see his franchise moving to St. Louis, sees value in the effort the city put up to keep the Rams.
A few hours later in that same hotel lobby, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, who has shot down rumors of a move to St. Louis on multiple occasions and -- more importantly -- invested a lot of money in his home market, followed suit when asked if he ever saw the possibility for the Jaguars to be in St. Louis, even well into the future.

"I don't see that at all," Khan said. "To me, it's like fate or destiny. It wasn't meant to be [for me] in St. Louis."

It's entirely possible that it may never be meant to be for St. Louis again. Although the last former NFL city to be abandoned and never get another team is Portsmouth, Ohio, way back in 1934, this is strike two for St. Louis. What's more, other markets such as London, San Diego and Toronto figure to be ahead of it in the pecking order for a team.

In Kroenke's application for relocation, he and his employees made it clear that they viewed St. Louis as a city that is stuck in the mud at best and regressing in a major way at worst when it comes to economics. Those points were often refuted by the St. Louis stadium task force, and even Forbes magazine offered opposition to some of the numbers to the study commissioned by the Rams. But apparently those numbers were solid enough for other owners to sit up and take notice.

Khan, who spent many years about two and a half hours from St. Louis in Champaign, Illinois, and who once watched as Kroenke exercised his right to buy the majority stake in the Rams at the last minute, said it's fair to wonder how St. Louis will be able to get the NFL back.

"The world is always changing," Khan said. "I lived not too far from St. Louis for many, many years. Just think about what St. Louis used to be. One of the big hubs, TWA and American, Ralston Purina and Monsanto, Anheuser-Busch. I'm in the auto parts business, I remember we had the Ford Explorer plant, [now it's] gone. The Chrysler minivan plant, gone. We still have the GM plant with the midsize, but the minivan has been moved out. It used to be a huge automotive center -- that's changed. All the corporate headquarters are gone too. So it's like, does it make sense? I think that's what you have to ask yourself. Does it make sense? Because if it is a smaller market, it has to be a private-public partnership. And it has to make sense for everybody."

Which brings us to the other side of the equation. St. Louis just went through a painstaking political process to raise the public funds to come up with a stadium offer to keep the Rams, only to sit helplessly by as the NFL flicked that offer aside. The league then promptly rewarded San Diego and Oakland, two cities that came nowhere close to the St. Louis proposal, a reprieve.

If you were St. Louis, would you really want to get back into business with the league after that?

The answer to that could very well be no. St. Louis mayor Francis G. Slay said as much Wednesday.

"At this point I'm so frustrated and disappointed with the NFL," Slay told reporters. "Why would anybody want to in any way even entertain any suggestions from the NFL after the way they dealt with St. Louis here? They were dishonest."

Like most things NFL-related, one can never say never. Time will heal wounds and eventually, there will be a team or teams that seek a new home. But it takes a lot of work and a whole lot of politicking to make that happen.

"I think what St. Louis and Missouri did was far, far better than not doing anything," Khan said. "Who are we to judge? But I think if you look at the result, it fell a little bit short but it's far better here to have tried and not succeeded than not trying at all."

 

[LesBaker]

Kroenke. He loves money and nothing else. He will freak LA fans for a dollar, never forget that. Enjoy the team as long as you can. If he had been honest and said he was moving for money, I'd at least respect him for for being honest. But he is a liar. If the NFL had simply said they didn't care about St. Louis, they wanted the Rams in LA for money, I'd have at least respected them for being honest. But they are liars. I will celebrate their deaths, hope for their bankruptcies. I agree with CoachO's sentiments - it is why I cannot stay here. The things that hurt Kroenke also hurt ROD members and I don't want you hurt. But I do want Kroenke hurt. Sorry, but that is the way it is. I can't stand liars.

He already did that..........he only agreed to buy his earlier share of the Rams if they moved out of LA and went to STL.

Ironic

 

[BriansRams]

Longtime Rams football fans are elated the team will be returning to Southern California, including the owner of the Golden Ram barber shop. KCBS' Michele Gile reports.

Watch LA Rams Fans Report

Kind of a cool video. The Rams back in LA is making a lot of previously sad fans, very happy. At least there is some good coming from the move.

 

[nighttrain]

I don't live in either place but I did go to my first game at the Coliseum. I really didn't care when the moved to StL and don't care if they move back I've suffered for decades with them and God willing I will have more years rooting them on. My condolences to those of you in StL who have invested in the team for you I know it sucks ass. My hope is that with this behind us the franchise can use this move as a springboard to put up a team that is a perennial winner and that we'll all have a team we can be proud of.

the internet makes it a lot easier than back when the bitch sold out for money
train