One of the big topics surrounding the meetings is the future of the NFL in Los Angeles and the progress of two different stadiums that have been proposed in the southern California region. Thomas joined The Wendy’s Big Show to discuss what he’s hearing about LA and give his thoughts on a Los Angeles Times article reporting Rams owner is set to unveil new plans this week.
We’ve included transcribed highlights of the segment:
“The one thing that kind of stood out is there’s going to be an extra home team locker room. I think if it were up to Stan, he’d just do it by himself. But maybe at the end of the day, they lure San Diego there or say – the worst case scenario for St. Louis – would be they move Oakland there and San Diego stays in San Diego.”
More on Kroenke’s two-team stadium:
“It could be a thing to split up the Raiders-Chargers alliance in Carson, Calif.”
Say St. Louis builds a stadium and owners don’t approve of Kroenke relocating team. Could he really show his face as the owner of the St. Louis Rams after all this? Woudn’t that be awkward?
“It would be awkward, but how often do you see him now? I don’t think it really changes that much. If St. Louis comes through with this stadium plan, if they get the financing, it will be very hard for the league to turn its back on St. Louis. The league’s not stupid. The old sports cliche, ‘St. Louis controls its own destiny,’ it’s still very true as we sit here right now.”
More on Grubman talking with owners about Los Angeles:
“Grubman will come in and he’s going to make a presentation. I don’t know how long this lasts. We’re hoping to get to Grubman some time this week. It’s basically to get (the owners up to date on the Los Angeles situation), ‘Here’s what happening in St. Louis, here’s what’s happening in San Diego, here’s what’s happening in Oakland.’ He’ll answer questions and also if any of the owners in the room have any questions for Stan Kroenke, or for Dean Spanos in San Diego with the Chargers or Mark Davis with the Raiders. That’ll be the update.”
Do you think any news will come out of this?
“Maybe we’ll get some thoughts on what they think of the LA plan or what they think of the St. Louis plan. Grubman has said…out of the three teams in danger of losing their team, St. Louis has been the most specific and has been the most aggressive in terms of getting stuff done. I think maybe for a lot of league owners who hadn’t heard what’s going on it St. Louis, it could actually be a good thing. This process will have a lot more definition definitely by late fall.”
“It could be a thing to split up the Raiders-Chargers alliance in Carson, Calif.”
Say St. Louis builds a stadium and owners don’t approve of Kroenke relocating team. Could he really show his face as the owner of the St. Louis Rams after all this? Woudn’t that be awkward?
“It would be awkward, but how often do you see him now? I don’t think it really changes that much. If St. Louis comes through with this stadium plan, if they get the financing, it will be very hard for the league to turn its back on St. Louis. The league’s not stupid. The old sports cliche, ‘St. Louis controls its own destiny,’ it’s still very true as we sit here right now.”
it could also be used as leverage if any other future team wants a new stadium. assuming the raiders and chargers stay in their cities. and a real tangible state of the art stadium will raise the stakes even higher.
i don’t think the owners want the rams to move to st. louis. but i think it will end up being the best of two options. i think the other owners are every bit as ruthless as kroenke. i really do. and when it comes down to it. they’ll have no problems turning their backs on st. louis. maybe they’ll prove me wrong.
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Agamemnon
