Looks like LA is a go...

[Vitamike]

Not quite sure how to respond to this. I think I will just leave the rumors to those that spread them.

I just thought it was funny as shit, had to rate that post with a Funny.

'By reading...'

the Rams will be gone to play in the LA Coliseum

For nostalgia sake's RR I agree with the 2016 games at the Coliseum.

However for Vita's sake, I hope it is the Rose Bowl!

Pasadena is a cooler venue and easier for Vita to get in to and out of.

 

[LongtimeRamsFan42]

Let's also keep in mind...Kroenke moves the team to LA and his franchise value is now 3bil instead of 1bil. With that value, it makes him one of the most powerful owners in the NFL.

 

[Battlelyon]

I completely understand why Kroenke will want to move the team.

1. He triples his team value.

2. He gets all the profit, because he would owns the land, stadium, and team.

3. Playing in front of half empty stadium in St.Louis.

I believe it's not personal with him, it's just business. Smart business, that 99% of people would do.

 

[LongtimeRamsFan42]

I completely understand why Kroenke will want to move the team.

1. He triples his team value.

2. He gets all the profit, because he would owns the land, stadium, and team.

3. Playing in front of half empty stadium in St.Louis.

I believe it's not personal with him, it's just business. Smart business, that 99% of people would do.

Exactly, but perhaps more important, to a guy like Kroenke, it makes him one of the bigwigs in the NFL. To these guys who already have billions, its about power just as much/if not more than money(though the money helps I'm sure lol)

 

[zeke2829]

I completely understand why Kroenke will want to move the team.

1. He triples his team value.

2. He gets all the profit, because he would owns the land, stadium, and team.

3. Playing in front of half empty stadium in St.Louis.

I believe it's not personal with him, it's just business. Smart business, that 99% of people would do.

Yea, I wonder how many Steeler fans will be at out stadium for todays game?

 

[Battlelyon]

Rams owner willing to share LA-area stadium with another owner
October 4, 2015 9:20 am ET
Rams owner Stan Kroenke, intent on playing next season in Los Angeles as he attempts to build a new stadium in Inglewood, has made it clear to the league he is willing to share the facility with another owner from the onset, league sources said, but how equitable such an arrangement might be remains a critical issue.

The Chargers and Raiders have partnered on a potential project in Carson, Calif., though numerous league sources have continued to stress that the ultimate solution in Los Angeles could involve a pairing of any of the three teams seeking to relocate, and that essentially everything remains on the table at this point.

The Chargers in particular would strongly oppose playing in Inglewood, sources said, though the NFL could try to steer things in several different directions to finally bring this process to a conclusion. There remains some skepticism about how much Kroenke would truly share the wealth of a project he has singularly spearheaded.

At the league meeting in August, sources said Bears ownership asked Kroenke a direct question about what a deal might look like between him and another team in Inglewood, and at that time it was clear that the lease arrangement would make the other team more his tenant than his partner. However, sources said the Rams have never been approached by other owners or the league about a detailed plan for Kroenke's preferred plan for a two-team stadium. While “ideally” a tenant/lease arrangement would be his choice, the team is also open to option that would include more of an “equity” stake as well. That would require more of a cash investment from the second team.

With just three months remaining in this calendar year, one would expect issues like this to be moving quickly if the NFL is indeed going to begin playing in LA next year. Of course, the possibility always exists that they could push things back another year, something the teams involved would dread.

Should the NFL endorse a two-team arrangement in Inglewood, it's conceivable that the finances of a such a deal could be massaged to the point where all parties could agree. One source involved in the process maintained that Kroenke “is open-minded regarding a two-team scenario,” though that sentiment is not so readily backed up among the factions of ownership more inclined to vote for the Carson project at this time.

League sources continue to indicate that if a vote was taken today, neither project would have the requisite support (24 votes), with the Chargers/Raiders needing to swing another four to six votes to get there. Ownership sources estimate Kroenke has roughly 10-12 owners in his corner.

The move to LA will be a key topic at the NFL's annual fall meeting, to be held Wednesday in New York, and while the league is not close to being ready to bring anything to a vote, there could be incremental signs of progress to come at the meeting, sources said.

During a conference call last week to prepare teams for the meeting, they were informed that “relocation guidelines” will be discussed in a private session limited to just one representative per club. The NFL could set a relocation fee soon, enter into a formal agreement to play games temporarily at the Los Angeles Coliseum and at some point between now and December, the league will have to settle of a preferred project and begin ensuring that it has the sufficient votes required to pass.

Should owner Mark Davis bring in a minority partner to the Raiders with significant experience and acumen in the Los Angeles business/real estate/entertainment community, it only strengthens his odds of being one of the two teams in that market. Throughout this lengthy process he has continued to be seen as the most malleable of all the teams involved, desperate to get out of Oakland and willing to take a subsidiary role if need be to another team if deemed necessary to ensure he ends up there.

With Commissioner Roger Goodell more focused on this project than ever before and likely to play a critical role in its ultimate resolution, it could take a considerable compromise from multiple teams to facilitate things Expect the league to have a major role in steering the financials and details that carry the day.

 

[Battlelyon]

L.A. deal between Rams, Chargers could be brokered
Posted by Mike Florio on October 6, 2015, 10:09 PM EDT

With Chargers owner Dean Spanos definitely having the nine votes needed to keep Rams owner Stan Kroenke out of L.A. and Kroenke likely having the nine votes needed to keep Spanos out of L.A., the future of the NFL in Los Angeles could hinge on the ability of Spanos and Kroenke to work something out.

Via Kevin Acee of U-T San Diego from the quarterly league meetings in New York, some owners believe a deal can be struck between Kroenke and Spanos regarding which team(s) will move to L.A.

Some owners actively oppose Kroenke’s desire to move the Rams, believing that Spanos has tried long enough to get a new stadium in San Diego, and that St. Louis is on the verge of crafting a viable stadium proposal to keep the Rams. But if at least nine owners feel strongly enough about Kroenke getting the L.A. market to vote against the Chargers, the situation will remain at impasse, with both teams in limbo.

A brokered deal would hinge, as many such arrangements do, on money and/or other considerations. With each owner able to block the other from moving, one owner needs to persuade the other owner to drop his opposition. In addition, then, to the relocation fee that would be paid to the league generally, the owner who moves to L.A. may have to make a large, separate payment to the one who doesn’t.

Likewise, the arrangement could include other terms. For example, if Spanos accepts that the Chargers will stay in San Diego and the Rams will move to L.A., the league could agree that only one team would be in L.A. Likewise, the league could agree to devote extra resources to the construction of a stadium in St. Louis to persuade Kroenke to stay there.

It’s becoming more and more clear that something will happen, sooner than later. While a one-year delay is possible (and some think Kroenke is pushing that angle because he believes it raises his chances of prevailing), Acee reports that Steelers owner Art Rooney II said Tuesday, “I think we have a chance of getting something voted on by January.”

Lost in the shuffle are the Raiders. Officially partnered with the Chargers for a proposed stadium project in Carson, the Raiders have become an afterthought in the Rams-Chargers impasse. Some assume that, if Kroenke prevails, it means the Raiders and Chargers will move to L.A. and share a venue. Others believe that the Chargers could be the only team in the Carson facility.

There’s also a chance that the Rams and Chargers will agree to resolve their differences with by sharing a stadium at Kroenke’s Hollywood Park location. That would leave the Raiders in Oakland, or elsewhere.

Whatever happens, Raiders owner Mark Davis (pictured, with Spanos) seems satisfied — or at least oblivious.

“I’m a happy camper,” Davis said, via Acee. “Everything is going to work out.”

Yes, it will. And there’s a good chance that, however it works out, Davis will be left out of Los Angeles.

 

[Battlelyon]

NFL approves cross ownership plan of Rams owner Stan Kroenke

NFL approves cross ownership plan of Rams owner Stan Kroenke

The cross-ownership complications of St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke are over.

NFL owners on Wednesday approved Kroenke’s plan, which allows him to retain ownership of the Rams, and transfers ownership of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche to his wife, Ann Walton Kroenke. She is a Wal-Mart heiress who, according to Forbes, is worth an estimated $4.6 billion.

The Nuggets and the Avalanche will be run by the Kroenkes' son, Josh.

Under league rules, an owner cannot own an NFL team in one city and another pro sports franchise in another NFL city (or potential NFL city, such as Los Angeles). The reason is, the league doesn’t want NFL owners competing with each other for sports/entertainment dollars in the same city.

For those reading tea leaves on the L.A. situation, the fact that Kroenke got the thumbs up is noteworthy because his cross-ownership situaiton had been viewed as an irritant among some owners. With that behind him, it removes one of the hurdles in his path to a potential relocation to L.A.

One of the significant challenges for the NFL in sorting out the Los Angeles situation is it involves pitting owner against owner, with business partners who normally work in relative harmony backing competing stadium sites in Inglewood and Carson.

The league has gone to great lengths to ensure competition between owners takes place mainly on the field, not for the sports dollar in a given city. Hence, the cross-ownership rules, which preclude someone from owning an NFL team and a different pro sports franchise in another U.S. city.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said the league is going to try to avoid turning the race for L.A. into a popularity contest among those owners considering a move.


Facing their own deadline, owners offer diverging views on how to return NFL to L.A.
“As owners, personal friendships come into play,” Irsay said. “But in business, mistakes are often made if they’re led by emotion. You have to be very thoughtful

“I know each one wants to work it out at home. As owners, if we have to end up sorting it out and voting for two out of the three, that may be how it gets resolved. But hopefully there will be a lot of discussion behind the scenes where it works out that all parties are happy.”

===

NFL team owners Stan Kroenke and Dean Spanos discussed potential Southern California stadium locations -- including the site of the Hollywood Park racetrack in Inglewood -- over dinner in 2013, according to a person with direct knowledge of the meeting.

The report of the exchange, which the source described as "very amicable," sheds new light on the long-running competition to return the NFL to Los Angeles, as league owners discuss possible relocation of one or more teams during their fall meetings here at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Wednesday.

No votes are expected at this meeting or during a scheduled owners gathering in December, as they continue to discuss how to resolve a complex situation that includes two stadium plans for L.A. and three home markets hoping to retain their franchises.

Kroenke, who owns the St. Louis Rams, and Spanos, owner of the San Diego Chargers, back competing proposals that offer starkly different visions to end the league’s two-decade absence from Los Angeles.

Kroenke’s proposal includes a domed stadium and an artificial playing surface in Inglewood. Spanos, who has teamed with the Oakland Raiders, has put forward an open-air, natural-grass facility adjacent to the 405 Freeway in Carson.

The idea of Kroenke and Spanos teaming up in Inglewood has been suggested as a solution to the conundrum, but nothing has come of previous discussions involving the site.

The Chargers, for example, had no interest in purchasing a 60-acre parcel of land owned by Wal-Mart on the periphery of the Hollywood Park site.

Kroenke bought the parcel, which isn’t large enough to be the site of a stadium on its own -- in January 2014 and partnered with Stockbridge Capital, which controls the site’s remaining 238 acres, to propose a facility.

The Chargers and Stockbridge Capital had multiple phone conversations about the Hollywood Park site before the company’s deal with Kroenke, as part of the team’s wide-ranging effort to find a stadium solution after years of fruitless negotiations in San Diego. The conversations never developed into something more.

 

[Battlelyon]

Rooney: NFL expects Rams, Chargers, and Raiders to apply for L.A. relocation
Posted by Mike Florio on October 7, 2015, 5:57 PM EDT
AP
Twenty years ago, the final weeks of what was the last season for the Browns in Ohio were marred by the news that the team was moving. This year, the rest of the season will now be undermined in three cities that the local NFL teams soon will try to vacate.

Per multiple reports, Steelers owner Art Rooney, a member of the NFL’s L.A. committee, said Wednesday that he expects three teams to apply for relocation to Los Angeles in January. Rooney’s comments mean that fans in Oakland, San Diego, and St. Louis now know that the Raiders, Chargers, and Rams, respectively, will be trying to secure permission to make like a tree and get out of here come January.

Rooney also said that the relocation window won’t change; the period for filing paperwork to move opens in January and Rooney expects a vote to be taken that month.

With a supermajority of 24 “yes” votes needed, no owner likely will have enough votes to secure permission to move, if the three franchises are fighting among themselves. The outcome will hinge on the maneuverings behind the scenes, with the three teams working out a solution that is acceptable to the league and, more importantly, to each of them.

 

[Battlelyon]

6 hours ago • By Jim Thomas
90
Rams lose on LA television[/paste:font]
The Rams-Packers game on Oct. 11 was televised in Los Angeles and drew a lower rating than the Seahawks-Bengals game that was on at the same time.

The NFL will hold a public hearing in St. Louis on Tuesday Oct. 27 regarding the potential relocation of the Rams to Los Angeles.

The purpose of the hearing is to provide a forum for fans and others in the community to ask questions and express their views directly to the NFL before any decision is made about the potential relocation of the team.

Hearings also will take place Oct. 28 in San Diego and Oct. 29 in Oakland. The St. Louis hearing will take place from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market Street in downtown St. Louis.

The hearings are free and open to the public, but an entry pass is required to attend. Pre-registration to request an entry pass begins at 8 a.m. Tuesday. The registration site is www.nfl.com/stlhearing.

Entry passes are reserved for Rams season-ticket holders on a first-come, first-serve basis. But members of the community who are not season ticket members also will have the opportunity to request passes on a first-come, first-serve basis.

While a majority of the 3,100 seats in the Peabody Opera House will be reserved for season-ticket holders, an unspecified portion of that total will be reserved for non-season ticket holders.

Online pre-registration and a non-transferable confirmation receipt with a valid barcode is required for entry.

Members of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's executive staff, headed by executive vice president Eric Grubman, will be in attendance to take questions and listen to comments from the audience. Grubman is the league's point man for the potential relocation of a team or teams to Los Angeles, as well as the attempts to build new stadiums in St. Louis, San Diego, and Oakland.

As part of the league's relocation guidelines, public hearings must be held prior to relocation in the city (or in this case, cities) in jeopardy of losing their teams.

For those that can't attend, written comments may be submitted to [email protected] through Nov. 13. The hearings also will be streamed live on nfl.com/publichearings.

 

[27mtrcougar]

Thank you Mr. Disney Bob Iger!! This is a massive blow to Stan's plan.

 

[jacobarch]

Thank you Mr. Disney Bob Iger!! This is a massive blow to Stan's plan.

I fail to see how this is a blow to Stans Plan. Because the other side has an investor now? Great... That's what happens when you can't afford to build the stadium yourself. Stan already has everyone in place to start building in December. So doesn't that make his plan more viable? Not to mention didn't Stan not have a single word to say to Peacock in their presentation meeting? And now Peacock is coming out and saying he'll entertain any NFL team willing to listen? I dunno that sounds desperate to me.

Cougar, everyday on that godforsaken forum over at stltoday there is a new topic posted on how Inglewood is better, and then Carson is better. Lets face it right now no one really knows what's going to happen. Tomorrow there will another article on how Inglewood is the preferred choice of owners and how Carson is on it's last leg. Get my point?

But thank you for keeping it in the LA thread rather than creating an new topic. Whew that shit is annoying!

 

[27mtrcougar]

I fail to see how this is a blow to Stans Plan. Because the other side has an investor now? Great... That's what happens when you can't afford to build the stadium yourself. Stan already has everyone in place to start building in December. So doesn't that make his plan more viable? Not to mention didn't Stan not have a single word to say to Peacock in their presentation meeting? And now Peacock is coming out and saying he'll entertain any NFL team willing to listen? I dunno that sounds desperate to me.

Cougar, everyday on that godforsaken forum over at stltoday there is a new topic posted on how Inglewood is better, and then Carson is better. Lets face it right now no one really knows what's going to happen. Tomorrow there will another article on how Inglewood is the preferred choice of owners and how Carson is on it's last leg. Get my point?

But thank you for keeping it in the LA thread rather than creating an new topic. Whew that shit is annoying!

I do get your point but this is big news. Inger joining the Carson team is big. He actually has more money than Stan. He is the CEO of Disney. Disney owns ESPN. ESPN has a huge Monday night football contract with the NFL. This guy is tied in with the NFL and the owners. So the money issue with the Raiders owner is no longer an issue. Stans big chip in this Has always been the Big fancy state of the art stadium that blew away everyone. Well now with Inger on the Carson team just think what he'll be able to do to impress the NFL.... I mean he is the Disney CEO the leader of entertainment. Stan buys land and builds Walmart's. If I'm the NFL I might want my next stadium in LA to be overseen by the Disney man. And on a sidenote it's kind of gone under the radar.... But Stan just bought 200 acres in the St. Louis area. Does he know something already? Maybe it's possible he's going to build his own stadium like he wants it here? I know nothing is set in stone and you're right it keeps going back-and-forth but anyway you look at it it's very good news for us St. Louis people.

 

[shopson67]

I do get your point but this is big news. Inger joining the Carson team is big. He actually has more money than Stan. He is the CEO of Disney. Disney owns ESPN. ESPN has a huge Monday night football contract with the NFL. This guy is tied in with the NFL and the owners. So the money issue with the Raiders owner is no longer an issue. Stans big chip in this Has always been the Big fancy state of the art stadium that blew away everyone. Well now with Inger on the Carson team just think what he'll be able to do to impress the NFL.... I mean he is the Disney CEO the leader of entertainment. Stan buys land and builds Walmart's. If I'm the NFL I might want my next stadium in LA to be overseen by the Disney man. And on a sidenote it's kind of gone under the radar.... But Stan just bought 200 acres in the St. Louis area. Does he know something already? Maybe it's possible he's going to build his own stadium like he wants it here? I know nothing is set in stone and you're right it keeps going back-and-forth but anyway you look at it it's very good news for us St. Louis people.

The ESPN link to Disney (and therefore the Carson team now) might actually hurt their chances. The optics of ESPN owning a stadium could be a bad idea for the NFL in terms of impartiality.

 

[27mtrcougar]

The ESPN link to Disney (and therefore the Carson team now) might actually hurt their chances. The optics of ESPN owning a stadium could be a bad idea for the NFL in terms of impartiality.

Hmm I think that might be a little bit of a reach shop. These guys are about making money not impartiality. They just wouldnt make it obvious. I believe Disney has owned pro sports teams in the past. Besides it sure doesn't seem the NFL cares about their image with all the stuff that's going on in the last few years. It can't get any worse anyway lol.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

The ESPN link to Disney (and therefore the Carson team now) might actually hurt their chances. The optics of ESPN owning a stadium could be a bad idea for the NFL in terms of impartiality.

This is also the same league that's let Stan continue to own a majority of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche for years without any penalty. So I doubt the NFL cares about impartiality if they can make money off of it.

 

[Red_Chaos]

im slightly confused on the Disney CEO thing. Its not actually disney is going into the stadium business, just snagging the CEO.

 

[LongtimeRamsFan42]

The NFL is an old boys club and who do you think they'd REALLY back? Dollars to donuts, it would be Stan. There are 32 owners in the NFL and Disney isn't one of them...

 

[Rambunctious]

The NFL needs to clean this up. I've heard all of the reasons why there will not be an answer until Jan but this involves fans of three teams and four cities. All the silence and speculation is turning fans away. Make a decision and announce it and move on.

 

[27mtrcougar]

im slightly confused on the Disney CEO thing. Its not actually disney is going into the stadium business, just snagging the CEO.

Exactly. Bob Iger would buy in to be a Minority share holder of the raiders. But have the money and the know-how to build an awesome stadium.