dmiles2186 wrote:glen a richter wrote:I would imagine that if the Rams leave, St. Louis would get another team eventually... the Jaguars possibly. I can't see that market being without a football team, #1, and #2 football, by virtue of simply how popular it is, is the only sport I could actually envision having a successful expansion to maybe 40 teams. Why keep a decent sized market out? Football is so popular, you could plop a team in East Nowhereland and probably sell out the stadium 8 times a year. It works in Green Bay.
But isn't this what they've been saying about LA for 20 years? Isn't this what they've said about Seattle when it comes to the NBA? From what the stadium task force has said, if the Rams leave, this stadium doesn't get built, because it's dependent on 250m directly from the owner. If you've got no owner to supply the money, then you've got a big hole in your financing.
I could be wrong though...Shad Khan was from this area and originally wanted to buy the Rams and pledged to keep them here. So maybe if the opportunity arose, he'd look to heading our way.
Khan just signed a 5 year agreement for the Jaguars to play overseas once a year.
PLUS, he isn't likely to pick up and move the team like Kroenke wants to do. From what I am hearing, he just isn't that kind of owner and is very dedicated to Jacksonville.
I bet my wife yesterday that the Rams will stay.
Here's why...
- The Board of Alderman passed the financing bill yesterday to build the stadium.
- The NFL agreed to kick in an additional 100 million towards the stadium (on top of the $200 million they were already kicking in) if the city would waive the amusement tax, which they did. That's kind of important here.
- The Carson City project is gaining a lot of steam & is considered quite viable and attractive to the league. From what I hear, the league is quite smitten with the idea of having Disney as an owner.
- Duing the January vote, the owners could quite conceivably block any attempt by Kroenke to move based on the fact that St. Louis now has a stadium finance plan in place and the stadium is basically ready to be built if the Rams are indeed staying. Why is that important? Because the owners would have a hard time claiming that they need public financing for future stadiums if Kroenke walks away from $400 million in public money to build his own stadium with his own money. It sets a bad precedent as far as the owners are concerned.
Of course, Kroenke could sue or threaten to sue and that could sway votes and of course anything can happen yet. But they were saying that the city of St. Louis has put themselves in the best possible position to keep the Rams leading into the January vote by the owners. I think a lot of people will be shocked if the owners vote in January to allow the Rams to move.
I know a lot of people think the Rams as still as good as gone, and they still might move, but the Rams staying is a much more realistic idea than it was when the season started.
And, of course, there is the possibility of Kroenke rejecting the stadium proposal and agreeing to a year to year lease on the dome, and him trying to move the Rams all over again in a couple years. But the backlash from that with the current stadium financing in place and ready to go, would be monumentally horrific for the NFL and Kroenke. But I doubt Kroenke gives a shit about any of that.