Return of the L.A. Rams?

#1
TrueOrange

TrueOrange

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#1
St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke buys 60 acres of land in Los Angeles - ESPN Los Angeles

ST. LOUIS –- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed Friday that St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke informed the league of a recent purchase of a 60-acre tract of land in Inglewood, Calif.

According to Goodell, that knowledge didn't come with any discussion of building or developing a plan to make the location the future home of a football stadium.

"Our policy is they do have to keep us informed of any developments or anything that is going on in the Los Angeles market," Goodell said. "Stan is a very large developer on a global basis. He has land throughout the country and throughout the world. He has kept us informed of it. We're aware of it.

"There are no plans to my knowledge of a stadium development. Anything that would require any kind of stadium development requires multiple votes of the membership."

Reports Thursday night cited sources saying Kroenke had purchased the land. Goodell's confirmation was buoyed Friday afternoon by an email statement from the Kroenke group to the Los Angeles Times.

"While we can confirm media reports that we recently purchased land in Inglewood, as a private company we don't typically discuss our plans for commercial or residential investments," the statement to the Times said. "We have yet to decide what we are going to do with the property but we will look at all options, as we do with all our properties."

The news that Kroenke has purchased the land has fueled plenty of speculation about the future of the Rams, who played in Southern California from 1946 to 1994. That speculation has been lingering around the franchise for the better part of the past two seasons.

Goodell cautioned those jumping to conclusions to take a deeper look at Kroenke's history of land development.

"Stan is a very successful developer," Goodell said. "He has billions of dollars of projects that are going on around the country of real estate development. I think instead of overreacting we should make sure we do what's necessary to continue to support the team locally, which the fans have done in St. Louis, and make sure we can do whatever we can to make sure that team is successful in the St. Louis market."

Goodell also reiterated that any team looking to move to Los Angeles or any other city would still have substantial hurdles to clear, including the blessing of at least 24 NFL owners. The league has a strict and expensive set of guidelines for a team to meet before relocation would even be put to a vote before the league's 32 owners.

The Rams' lease with the Edward Jones Dome contains an escape clause that is set to kick in at the end of the 2014 season. If the stadium hasn't been upgraded to one of the eight best venues in the NFL before that time, the Rams' lease will then become a year-to-year proposition beginning in 2015.

Discussions about how to bring the stadium up to that standard have been ongoing for the past couple of years.

In 2012, the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission proposed a $124 million upgrade to help the Edward Jones Dome reach the "first tier" standard.

The Rams countered with a more elaborate proposal that was estimated to cost close to $700 million.

In February of last year, an arbitrator heard both proposals and ruled in favor of the Rams. Soon after, the commission made it clear it does not intend to follow through with the plan, meaning the lease will almost certainly expire after next season.

When asked whether he believes the Rams and St. Louis have had ongoing dialogue, Goodell indicated that he wouldn't categorize the discussions as "active negotiations" but there have been "a lot of discussions."

Los Angeles has been without a professional football franchise since the Rams and Raiders departed for St. Louis and Oakland, respectively, in 1995.

Following those departures, Los Angeles has often been bandied about as a possible relocation site for a number of franchises, but in each case, the city has been used as leverage more than anything.

Kroenke has not publicly discussed the stadium situation.
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#3
#3
another billionaire cheapskate --- has plenty of money to build his own stadium in St Louis - garbage owners like him should lose their NFL membership
 
#4
#4
I hope they move back to LA

and if your an NFL owner, you didn't get that rich, worrying about taking advantage of public funding
 
#5
#5
LA already has a pro team - its just not NFL ---------------------- USC
 
#6
#6
I love how seemingly everyone wants a team in LA, except LA.

My guess this is more the same ol same ol, we'll be lead to believe the Rams will leave St. Louis and near the last minute they'll come to an agreement. I don't think the NFL wants any of the current teams to actually move, except maybe the Jaguars. They'd rather throw an expansion team out there, or an expansion and the Jaguars move.
 
#7
#7
As a fan of small market teams, I do not want to see any town lose their team.
 
#9
#9
Nerd-Vol said:
As a fan of small market teams, I do not want to see any town lose their team.
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Agreed. Small market teams brings a lot of city unity and pride. I wouldn't necessarily call STL a small market but it's small compared to LA.
 
#10
#10
508mikey said:
LA already has a pro team - its just not NFL ---------------------- USC
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Don't forget this team! :)

helmet_la-kiss.jpg
 
#11
#11
Nerd-Vol said:
As a fan of small market teams, I do not want to see any town lose their team.
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I don't either. But it would be to the small market cities' advantage if somebody would move to LA and take away every other owner's trump card.
 
#12
#12
GAVol said:
I don't either. But it would be to the small market cities' advantage if somebody would move to LA and take away every other owner's trump card.
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Till Goodell starts talking London again.




Actually, now I'm hoping the Rams move so Goodell doesn't decide to make two expansion teams (with one being in London).
 
#14
#14
Plecoptera said:
An NFL team in London would be a horrible mistake.
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Goodell: London further along than year ago - The Washington Post

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says the possibility of a future franchise in London is “further down the road” than it was a year ago at this time.

During his state of the league address on Friday, Goodell says the fact the NFL has added a third game for 2014 and that all three games have already sold out is a strong sign of the growing interest in the United Kingdom.

He says the more the league offers to the UK, the more the fans want.

Goodell says he’s not sure where the process goes now, but the league plans to continue investing in the marketplace.
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Well, Roger clearly wants one.
 
#15
#15
I have no issues with the Rams going back to LA. They played there 50 years and never should have left. St Louis is a baseball town. The worse tragedy IMO would be if rumors of the Chargers moving to LA came true.

As far as a team moving to London, I would be fine with the Jaguars relocating there. That team struggles to sell tickets and they already have a pretty good name for a British team.
 
#16
#16
UTwild82 said:
I have no issues with the Rams going back to LA. They played there 50 years and never should have left. St Louis is a baseball town. The worse tragedy IMO would be if rumors of the Chargers moving to LA came true.

As far as a team moving to London, I would be fine with the Jaguars relocating there. That team struggles to sell tickets and they already have a pretty good name for a British team.
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St. Louis is a baseball town but I think it should have an NFL team too. It's had an NFL presence a long time too. I wouldn't mind the Rams going back but I'd rather the Rams stayed in St. Louis and LA get the Jags or an expansion team; because if the Rams leave St. Louis I doubt the city will get an NFL team again.
 
#17
#17
VolsSportsFan said:
St. Louis is a baseball town but I think it should have an NFL team too. It's had an NFL presence a long time too. I wouldn't mind the Rams going back but I'd rather the Rams stayed in St. Louis and LA get the Jags or an expansion team; because if the Rams leave St. Louis I doubt the city will get an NFL team again.
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I wish the Cardinals would move back to St. Louis. I still cannot get used to calling them the Arizona Cardinals. Just like I could never get used saying the Los Angeles Raiders.
 
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#18
#18
VolsSportsFan said:
St. Louis is a baseball town but I think it should have an NFL team too. It's had an NFL presence a long time too. I wouldn't mind the Rams going back but I'd rather the Rams stayed in St. Louis and LA get the Jags or an expansion team; because if the Rams leave St. Louis I doubt the city will get an NFL team again.
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You likely need a 2nd team somewhere if you're going the expansion route for L.A.
 
#20
#20
TrueOrange said:
You likely need a 2nd team somewhere if you're going the expansion route for L.A.
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Which is why I don't think they want to go that route yet, and are hoping an existing team goes there *cough* Jaguars *cough*.
 
#21
#21
Brave Volunteer said:
I wish the Cardinals would move back to St. Louis. I still cannot get used to calling them the Arizona Cardinals. Just like I could never get used saying the Los Angeles Raiders.
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I hear you. I really hate teams moving for the most part, and generally I wish all situations could have been handled like the Browns, i.e. the team can leave but essentially the city keeps the identity, but I realize that was a unique situation.

I wasn't very old when the Colts left Baltimore, but me I was thinking when the Browns moved to Baltimore, my wish scenario that would never happen would be Baltimore got the Colts' nickname and colors back and Indy was forced to create a new identity.
 
#22
#22
Wouldn't be shocked since St. Louis is a baseball city, and owner owns land in Los Angeles.
 
#23
#23
VolsSportsFan said:
I hear you. I really hate teams moving for the most part, and generally I wish all situations could have been handled like the Browns, i.e. the team can leave but essentially the city keeps the identity, but I realize that was a unique situation.

I wasn't very old when the Colts left Baltimore, but me I was thinking when the Browns moved to Baltimore, my wish scenario that would never happen would be Baltimore got the Colts' nickname and colors back and Indy was forced to create a new identity.
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Yeah that's another one! The Baltimore Colts sounded so much better than the Indianapolis Colts. I'm like you, if a franchise moves to another city they should adopt a new identity and the city gets to keep the original one, just like the Cleveland Browns did.
 
#24
#24
VolsSportsFan said:
I hear you. I really hate teams moving for the most part, and generally I wish all situations could have been handled like the Browns, i.e. the team can leave but essentially the city keeps the identity, but I realize that was a unique situation.

I wasn't very old when the Colts left Baltimore, but me I was thinking when the Browns moved to Baltimore, my wish scenario that would never happen would be Baltimore got the Colts' nickname and colors back and Indy was forced to create a new identity.
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Yeah that's another one! The Baltimore Colts sounded so much better than the Indianapolis Colts. I'm like you, if a franchise moves to another city they should adopt a new identity and the city they left gets to keep the original one, just like the Cleveland Browns did.
 
#25
#25
Brave Volunteer said:
Yeah that's another one! The Baltimore Colts sounded so much better than the Indianapolis Colts. I'm like you, if a franchise moves to another city they should adopt a new identity and the city gets to keep the original one, just like the Cleveland Browns did.
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I sort of wish the whole Titans/Oilers situation would've happened like the Browns/Ravens. Just leave the colors, name, and records with Houston and start completely over in Tennessee with a new identity.

I mean Warren Moon, Earl Campbell, and George Blanda do not belong to Nashville, they are Houston's IMO. Plus, I used to always love the Oilers' name and uniforms lol. And I've always assumed that had the Titans not taken everything with them when they left, then the Houston Texans would have come into the NFL as the Houston Oilers and picked up all the old team's records and history.
 
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