- Joined
- Apr 15, 2017
- Messages
- 1,289
- Name
- LA Rams 29
I hear you... I obsessively followed the relocation process as well. I've long been of the opinion that the top tier clause existence gave the Rams a way out that could have been removed under Georgia. Of the process to do that wasn't in the lease, but I don't believe Georgia wanted the Rams to leave St Louis, and would have been open to securing a more long term relationship.... something that the top tier clause put in jeopardy.OK. I was very involved in the details of the move on both sides. When they moved to the Lou, I was very upset and looked into it. When there was talk that they MIGHT move back to LA, I was skeptical because Stan is a Missouri native and helped bring the Rams to the Lou. I researched everything in their contract with the St Louis crowd and found nothing that alluded to what you're talking about about EXCEPT that if terms were not fulfilled, that they could move the team.
The top tier stipulation was agreed to by all parties and shortly after, the city, event center association, and mayor decided that they wanted to renegotiate the lease. Neither Stan nor Georgia were having any part of that.
When Stan exercised his right of first refusal, he entertained the idea that they could build a stadium but he had already set his sights on the Hollywood Park property. He let that play out and if you look at what they laid out, you can see why it was a non-starter. The city was going to build the stadium on the river. Stan was supposed to come up with 40% of the cost, the NFL I believe was supposed to front 40% as well.
With their 20% investment, the city, county, and trade bureau was supposed to retain all revenues (except for a small percentage that would go to the Rams) of all concessions, extra activities, parking, etc...
Georgia died when any negotiations about the top tier clause were in their infancy.
I firmly believe that Stan would have built a state of the art facility in his home state if the government and non-government entities would have just left him alone.
Instead, they tried to fuck him and you just don't do that with someone with the means of a Stan Kroenke with a wife that is a Walmart heir.
He then got information about the Hollywood Park property that was no doubt already on his investment group's radar and the obvious became obvious.
Stan is a money machine and he does it in very various ways. I have researched his holdings. Some are ridiculously good for the locals, some, not so much.
Bottom line is that he has improved the productivity of virtually every property he has invested in.
Clearly, the Rams are no exception.
But either way Kroenke has turned this into a top tier organization... no doubt about it... and Our Rams Nation can enjoy some seriously engaging football