He was kind of joking about the 99.98% but I think he was sincere. I get the impression that he isn't 100% sure what Stan might do at any time so he was covering the Stan uncertainty. Kevin spoke quite a bit about the stadium and move anxiety. Some people asked why they should keep buying season tickets if we don't know if the Rams will stay from year to year. He said he understood the emotional investment people are making when they buy season tickets. He said he feels like he has to make a good enough overall product to sell tickets year by year, and a year-by-year lease is not that unusual in the NFL, citing San Diego and in the past Minneapolis and Buffalo. He said the Rams and fans agree that it would be better to start over on a new stadium rather than upgrade the EJ Dome. He went through the whole 5 year saga that played out in Minnesota including the team working out a deal for a stadium in the suburbs before the city finally got serious and came up with a plan for a new stadium. But even that plan fell through multiple times. Finally the Vikings management made a no-too-clandestine trip to LA. Then the commissioner got involved and finally a plan was passed by the legislature. He isn't hoping for that scenario but said he wouldn't be surprised if St. Louis has to go through a similar sequence of starts and stops and threats to leave, etc. before we end up building a new stadium. He thinks a retractable roof is too expensive and he prefers open air. (said his wife doesn't understand why) He pointed to Indy as a region that build a fantastic new stadium even though its previous one was only about as old as the dome. And they built a new Airport and a new convention center. That is the kind of regional resolve he would like to see in St. Louis. (Then he joked that unlike Indy, St. Louis has a REAL river, and a lot more.) He also mentioned he thought 60,000 would be about the right size for a new stadium.
Personally, I was hoping he would just say YES, the Rams will be here in 2015. Since he didn't quite say that, and he made it sound like we should limit our enjoyment to what is happening in he current season. But often sports enjoyment comes not just from the current game or season, but with watching the development and improvement of teams and individuals over several seasons. He emphasized the fun of high fiving other fans in the stands and poking Chicago fans during the game, and having memories of great plays -- like the Ricky Proehl catch in 1999. Things you don't don't get from your sofa. All emphasizing enjoyment now, not over multiple seasons. So this leads me to believe they are positioning themselves to make no multi-year commitments here -- concession contracts, dome improvements, etc.
