reporters on the Rams to LA vote (1/12-1/13 so far)

The following is new content from Rams Newsroom:
RAMS TO RETURN TO LOS ANGELES

Following a vote from National Football League owners, the Rams officially have been approved to return to the greater Los Angeles area and will do so for the 2016 NFL season. The organization called Los Angeles home from 1946-1994.

“This has been the most difficult process of my professional career,” said Rams owner E. Stanley Kroenke. “While we are excited about the prospect of building a new stadium in Inglewood, California, this is bitter sweet. St. Louis is a city known for its incredibly hard-working, passionate and proud people. Being part of the group that brought the NFL back to St. Louis in 1995 is one of the proudest moments of my professional career. Reaching two Super Bowls and winning one are things all St. Louisans should always treasure.

“While there understandably has been emotionally charged commentary regarding our motives and intentions, the speculation is not true and unfounded. I am a Missouri native named after two St. Louis sports legends who I was fortunate enough to know on a personal level. This move isn’t about whether I love St. Louis or Missouri. I do and always will. No matter what anyone says, that will never change. This decision is about what is in the best long-term interests of the Rams organization and the National Football League. We have negotiated in good faith with the Regional Sports Authority for more than a decade trying to find a viable and sustainable solution. When it became apparent that we might not be able to reach an agreement, it was then and only then that we looked at alternatives.

“We would like to thank the National Football League, its owners, and the Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities for their diligence and dedication. We look forward to returning to Los Angeles and building a world-class NFL entertainment district in Inglewood.”

Andrew Brandt ‏@AndrewBrandt
Kroenke thanks league office. They did a lot of the dirty work for him.

Ross Tucker ‏@RossTuckerNFL
So the city that did the most to keep their team is the only one definitely losing it?

Meet the Los Angeles Rams

Matt Wilhalme

http://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-nfl-meet-the-los-angeles-rams-20160110-story.html

When the Rams picked up and moved to St. Louis after the 1995 season, they took with them a promising young running back, Jerome Bettis.

As they return to Los Angeles they’re bringing another budding star back, Todd Gurley.

Though comparing Bettis, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, to Gurley is truly unfair, the latter is the new young face of one of the NFL’s youngest teams.

The Rams have struggled in recent years to find a quarterback with the endurance to last a full season, and as such they’ve struggled in the passing game. They’ve also lacked a true No. 1 receiver.

The Rams haven’t seen a wideout break the 1,000-yard mark since 2007, when Torry Holt had 1,189 yards receiving. The Rams have the 15th overall pick in the 2016 draft and could address that need in May.

They have heavily invested in their defense with their top picks, selecting three defensive linemen and a linebacker with four of their seven first-round selections since 2011.

Here is an introduction to some of the franchise’s most important players.

OFFENSE

Case Keenum, quarterback
6 feet 1, 205 pounds
2015 STATISTICS
828 yards passing | 4 touchdowns | 1 interception

Case Keenum
Quarterback Case Keenum looks to pass against San Francisco during a game against the 49ers on Jan. 3. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
Keenum headed into the off-season as the Rams’ incumbent starter if he returns next season, since he’s a restricted free agent and not under contract for 2016. The four-year pro took the starting job late in the season from Nick Foles, whom St. Louis acquired from Philadelphia in a quarterback swap for Sam Bradford. Keenum, who went undrafted out of Houston in 2012, was 3-2 as a starter last season with four touchdown passes and one interception. He’s a pocket passer but has moves that can extend plays, though his offensive numbers won’t blow you away. Ultimately, though, the only number that matters is wins.

Nick Foles, quarterback
6-6, 243
215 STATISTICS
2,052 yards passing | 7 touchdowns | 10 interceptions

Nick Foles
Quarterback Nick Foles warms up before a game against the Seahawks in Seattle on Dec. 27. (Stephen Brashear / Associated Press)
The Rams traded for Foles with the idea that he’d step in and become their starting quarterback for the long term, even going as far as giving him a two-year contract extension before he played his first meaningful snap. Fast-forward to mid-November: Foles found himself on the bench after the team’s offense scored fewer than 19 points in five of nine starts. Foles struggled with accuracy, completing just 56.4% of his passes, but that wasn’t always the case. In 2013, Foles had 27 touchdowns with just two interceptions in 13 games as he led the Eagles to the NFC East title and their first playoff appearance since 2010.

Todd Gurley, running back
6-1, 227
2015 STATISTICS
229 carries | 1,106 yards rushing | 10 touchdowns
21 catches | 188 yards receiving

Todd Gurley
Todd Gurley rushed for 146 yards in 19 carries against the Cardinals during a game in Arizona on Dec. 6. (Michael B. Thomas / Getty Images)
Gurley was the first running back selected in the first round of the 2015 NFL draft (10th overall) and and led all rookies with 1,106 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns despite missing the first two games of the season while recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered in college at Georgia. His speed, power and field vision make him a dangerous offensive weapon. Gurley had 11 carries for more than 20 yards (second-most in the NFL) and five plays of 40-plus (most in the league).

Kenny Britt, receiver
6-3, 223
2015 STATISTICS
36 catches | 681 yards receiving | 3 touchdowns

Richard Sherman, Kenny Britt
Receiver Kenny Britt dives into the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown reception against the Seahawks during a game on Dec. 27. (John Froschauer / AP)
The former Titan has led the Rams in yards receiving in back-to-back years. Britt’s 18.9 yards per catch were the second-most in the league last season, thanks to his ability to get the deep ball. He had 11 grabs that went for more than 20 yards and five greater than 40.

Tavon Austin, receiver
5-8, 176
2015 STATISTICS
52 catches | 473 yards receiving | 5 touchdowns
52 carries | 434 yards rushing | 4 touchdowns
34 punt returns | 268 return yards | 1 touchdown

Tavon Austin
Receiver Tavon Austin warms up before a game against the 49ers on Jan. 3. (Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
Austin put together the best season of his career last year despite the Rams’ struggles on offense — St. Louis had the fewest passing yards per game. The No. 8 overall pick in the 2013 draft out of West Virginia is among the fastest players in the league, making him a threat as a receiver, running back or punt returner if he gets in space. Last year, Austin saw career highs in rushing yards and receiving yards.

Tre Mason, running back
5-8, 207
2015 STATISTICS
75 carries | 207 yards rushing | 1 touchdown
18 catches | 88 yards receiving

Tre Mason
Running back Tre Mason finds some room to run against Tampa Bay during the Rams’ 31-23 victory over the Buccaneers on Dec. 17. (Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)
Mason led the Rams with 765 yards rushing and five total scores in 12 games in 2014, but he took a backseat to rookie Gurley in 2015, partly because of a hamstring injury suffered during the preseason. He was limited to fewer than 10 carries in 11 of the 13 games he appeared in this season, with his average yards per carry dropping from 4.8 to 2.8. Mason isn’t a bruiser, but his compact size and quickness allow him to slip through even the tiniest of holes in the defensive line.

Jared Cook, tight end
6-5, 254
2015 STATISTICS
39 catches | 481 yards receiving

Jared Cook
Tight end Jared Cook makes a catch against the Seahawks during a game in Seattle on Dec. 27. (Stephen Brashear / Associated Press)
Cook failed to find pay dirt last season, but he was the Rams’ second-leading receiver with 481 yards and 19 grabs for first downs. The veteran tight end has had 16 touchdown grabs over seven NFL seasons, but saw his production dip in 2015 as the Rams shifted toward a run-first mentality. His size and speed make him a matchup problem for opposing defenses.

DEFENSE

Aaron Donald, defensive tackle
6-1, 285
2015 STATISTICS
69 tackles | 22 tackles for loss | 11.0 sacks

Aaron Donald
Defensive tackle Aaron Donald sacks Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford during the fourth quarter of a game on Dec. 13. (Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)
Donald earned first-team All-Pro honors in his second year in the league as he quietly put together one of the better seasons for a defensive player in 2015. He has uncommon quickness for a player of his size and doesn’t have to just overpower opposing offense to get to the quarterback. Donald has collected 20 sacks since he was selected with the 13th overall pick in 2014.

Mark Barron, safety/linebacker
6-2, 213
2015 STATISTICS
116 tackles | 3 forced fumbles | 1 sack

David Johnson, Mark Barron
Cardinals running back David Johnson (31) fumbles as he’s hit by Rams safety/linebacker Mark Barron during the third quarter of a game on Dec. 6. (Tom Gannam / Associated Press)
Barron converted from safety to a hybrid linebacker position last season because of an injury to linebacker Alec Ogletree. The move was a boon for Barron, who finished the season as the Rams’ leading tackler (116) and collected his fourth sack since joining St. Louis from Tampa Bay by trade in 2014. The seventh overall pick in the 2012 draft is a free agent.

Robert Quinn, defensive end
6-4, 264
2015 STATISTICS
21 tackles | 5 sacks | 3 forced fumbles

Colin Kaepernick, Robert Quinn
San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick, left, throws under pressure from Rams defensive end Robert Quinn during the first quarter of a game on Nov. 1. (Tom Gannam / Associated Press)
Rams top pass rusher Donald is able to do his job so well because of this man on the other side of the line. Quinn was limited to eight games in 2015 because of a knee and hip injuries and was ultimately put on injured reserve because of a back injury. He has recorded 50 sacks in five seasons, including 19.0 in 2013, when he was named an All-Pro. He underwent surgery on his back this month and could miss some time in training camp.

James Laurinaitis, linebacker
6-2, 248
2015 STATISTICS
109 tackles | 1 forced fumble | 1.0 sack

James Laurinaitis
Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis (55) takes up his position during the third quarter of a game against the Cardinals on Dec. 6. (Tom Gannam / AP)
The former Ohio State linebacker is the Rams’ franchise record holder for most tackles after leading the team in takedowns in four of the last seven seasons. In that time he’s had 852 tackles, 16.5 sacks and 10 interceptions. He doesn’t make a whole lot of flashy plays, but he doesn’t give up a lot of big plays, either.

Trumaine Johnson, cornerback
6-2, 208
2015 STATISTICS
71 tackles | 17 passes defensed | 7 interceptions

Trumaine Johnson, Tyler Lockett
Cornerback Trumaine Johnson, left, intercepts a pass intended for Seahawks receiver Tyler Lockett, center, during the first half of a game on Dec. 27. (John Froschauer / Associated Press)
Johnson put together the best season of his career in his final contract year with the Rams. He finished with a career-high 71 tackles and seven interceptions, tied for the third-most interceptions in the league. Among his biggest accomplishments of 2015 included holding Detroit receiver Calvin Johnson to just one catch for 16 yards on five targets.

Janoris Jenkins, cornerback
5-10, 198
2015 STATISTICS
64 tackles | 15 passes defensed | 3 interceptions

Torrey Smith, Janoris Jenkins
San Francisco receiver Torrey Smith (82) tries to jump over Rams cornerback Janoris Jenkins (21) during overtime of a game on Jan. 3. (Tony Avelar / Associated Press)
Jenkins makes up the other half of the Rams’ cornerback tandem and he is also a free agent after posting some of the best numbers of his career. He’s started 58 of the 60 games he’s appeared in since he was drafted in the second round in 2012 and has established himself as the team’s best cornerback.

Chris Long, defensive end
6-3, 268
2015 STATISTICS
19 tackles | 3 sacks | 1 forced fumble

Chris Long
Defensive end Chris Long (91) had one tackle and sacked San Francisco quarterback Blaine Gabbert during the Rams’ season-ending loss to the 49ers, 19-16, in overtime on Jan. 3. (Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)
Long has been slowed the past two years by injuries but remains the Rams’ vocal veteran defensive leader and another threat to opposing quarterbacks with 54.5 sacks over eight seasons. Long is the son of Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long and was born in Santa Monica, though the family moved to Virginia after the elder Long’s retirement.

Rams | A look back
A brief visual history of the Rams in Southern California

Amy Trask ‏@AmyTrask
During my years in the league, I can count on one hand (w/fingers left to spare), the number of times that the (1/2)

(2/2) recommendation of a committee & in those instances, the issue was tabled, rather than voted upon, while accommodations were made.

Andrew Brandt @AndrewBrandt
Been around NFL owners meetings a long time, cannot remember league turning its back on a committee recommendation (Carson) as yesterday.

BenFred: We’ll miss the Rams but certainly won’t miss their owner

Ben Frederickson

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/ben-frederickson/benfred-we-ll-miss-the-rams-but-certainly-won-t/article_661842fe-f537-52c5-a73c-8b595f4b74ea.html

St. Louis lost the battle to keep its losing football team from moving to Los Angeles on Tuesday. The loss of its loser of an owner should help ease the sting.

This city really will miss its mediocre Rams.

Stan Kroenke, not so much.

“I’m going to attempt to do everything that I can to keep the Rams in St. Louis.” — Kroenke

Back when Kroenke, a native Missourian, used to talk to the Rams fan base through the media, the billionaire said he wouldn’t do this. St. Louisans should have known better, of course. A liar can’t help but lie.

Some were led to believe the member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame — no kidding — would fight to keep professional football in his home state. Or at least not fight to rip it away.

But the problem was Kroenke’s actions never really seemed to match the assurance he gave the Post-Dispatch in a rare 2010 interview that took place after he exercised his right as minority owner to match a competitor’s bid.

Remember what he said.

“I’m born and raised in Missouri. I’ve been a Missourian for 60 years. People in our state know me. People know I can be trusted. People know I’m an honorable guy.” — Kroenke

Look at what he did.

Kroenke latched onto a regrettable clause in the team’s Edward Jones Dome lease that freed up the opportunity for relocation if the venue wasn’t in the top 25 percent of the league.

Former team president John Shaw made sure the item made it into the paperwork. Kroenke wielded it as his trump card. Meanwhile he made sure his multi-billion dollar dream stadium in Inglewood, Calif., was shovel-ready, with or without the poor second team that will wind up being his tenant.

If only Kroenke’s desire to climb the Forbes ranking and claim Los Angeles matched his desire to own a winning football team.

In his 29-page relocation application — a necessary part of the league relocation guidelines that turned out to be an absolute joke — Kroenke cited the Rams’ to-the-cap spending as a way to knock fans for poor attendance. He failed to mention the Rams are 36-59-1 since he became the majority owner.

He also left out this noteworthy piece of information: Rams coach Jeff Fisher, the man Kroenke hired in 2012, was asked multiple questions about his experience overseeing the Houston Oilers’ transition into the Tennessee Titans during his job interview in Denver. He must have nailed the answers, because Fisher, who is 27-36-1 with the Rams, is about to become the third coach since the AFL-NFL merger to receive a fifth season after a sub-.500 record in each of his first four.

“There’s a track record. I’ve always stepped up for pro football in St. Louis. And I’m stepping up one more time.” — Kroenke

It was wild to track, wasn’t it? The low of Monday night, when reports of a Rams-Chargers partnership surfaced. The thrill of Tuesday afternoon, when the league’s Los Angeles committee recommended the Chargers-Raiders project in Carson, Calif., by a 5-1 vote. Then the disgust when we were reminded that this is the NFL, where money rules.

An initial hope was that Kroenke would be so stubborn he would blow it. Man, it was fun to imagine the league owners with a conscience tackling Kroenke and associate-in-greed Jerry Jones at the goal line.

There were unconfirmed whispers of collusion (rumors that Eric Grubman, the league’s point man on the race to Los Angeles, might be in line for a job with the Rams), and even some humor, such as a report that Kroenke threatened legal action if the league picked Carson.

To be fair, Kroenke probably views the threat of a lawsuit as a sign of his friendship. It’s his version of a handshake.

Eventually, the fun stopped, and reality hit. The men with the money get what they want. Every time. A precedent has been set: If you are the home city of an NFL team that wants to move, do nothing, because it won’t matter in the end.

Kroenke’s fellow con artist, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, painted quite the picture after the NFL mafia cleaned up the blood and paid off the witnesses.

The amount of spin bordered on insanity. It would have been laughable if St. Louis wasn’t the city with the cement blocks strapped to its feet.

The way Goodell told it, Kroenke was leading the Los Angeles Rams home. People here know Kroenke turned his back on his home long ago.

The best part was when Kroenke stepped behind the microphone.

“Um,” he started “Well.”

He recovered and muddled through excuses like a guy who hadn’t talked publicly since …. let me check again … 2012.

Kroenke said he really tried to make it work here. He said it was bittersweet. He said this was the hardest thing he’s done in his professional career.

St. Louis knows better.

“I’ll do my damnedest.” — Kroenke

Turned out he didn’t give a damn. Good riddance, Stan.

St. Louis will miss your team.

It should celebrate losing you.

The NFL Was Guilty Of a Personal Foul, but a Proud St. Louis Will Rally

Posted by: Bernie Miklasz

http://www.101sports.com/2016/01/13/249021/

It’s late. My my alarm clock will be going off in about three hours, and I’m just about out of rage. But here’s some of what I learned during the bizarre, cruel and draining saga that ended with Tuesday’s official if anticlimactic announcement confirming the NFL’s vote to allow Stan Kroenke and the Rams to move to Los Angeles:

MEANINGLESS AND WORTHLESS:

The NFL’s relocation guidelines. The NFL’s integrity. The NFL’s fairness. Roger Goodell’s word. Stan Kroenke’s word. Kevin Demoff’s word. The influence of the NFL’s “Los Angeles” committee. Eric Grubman’s objectivity and impartiality. The NFL’s cross-ownership rules that were ignored to accommodate Kroenke, the first indication that the league executives would shine his shoes when ordered to do so. The importance of Disney CEO Bob Iger, who was supposed to put the competing Carson project in the winning column. The longstanding belief that the NFL owners would give the first shot at LA to San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos who had waited in vain for a new stadium in San Diego. His Carson partnership with Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis and Iger was DOA when the owners cut their back-room deal with Kroenke, who had the most money — and therefore the most power. Meaningless: the personal conduct of an NFL owner (Kroenke) in his market. Meaningless: the hideous performance of the owner’s team in his market. Worthless: the concept of holding an owner accountable. Meaningless and worthless: the NFL’s respect for the relentless and remarkable effort by the St. Louis task force that raised at least $400 million in public money to fund a new stadium for a franchise and a league that didn’t appreciate it or deserve it.

MEANINGFUL AND WORTH EVERYTHING:

Kroenke’s $7.7 billion fortune. Goodell and Grubman’s muscle in shoving the LA committee out of the way to get the desired outcome. Kroenke’s willingness to build a $2 billion stadium-entertainment complex in Inglewood, near Los Angeles. The NFL’s enthusiasm to embrace the project and endorse an owner that the league doesn’t even like — all in the pursuit of a solution for filling a void that Kroenke himself created by pulling the Rams out LA in 1995. The NFL’s lust to reach the league’s annual revenue goal of $25 billion annually — and nothing else mattered, including the unprecedented abandonment of a market that raised nearly $1 billion in public dollars (combined) to fund two new stadiums for the league in fewer than 25 years.

I’LL NEVER REALLY UNDERSTAND:

How the NFL can be so cavalier about walking away from $400 million (at least) of public money in St. Louis. It sets a bad precedent for team owners that one day will need to lobby for public dollars to pour into into stadiums in their own markets. This was an ominous development for mid-market owners that can’t keep pace with the wealth of a Kroenke or a Jerry Jones.

I’ll never understand why the NFL shamelessly encouraged Dave Peacock and Bob Blitz to continue pressing to complete the funding for the proposed north riverfront stadium when the league had absolutely no intention of giving St. Louis a fair and honest process that would keep the Rams here. If the cartel wanted to get Kroenke to LA, then be done with it. The anti-STL fix was in; this was a competition that Peacock and Blitz had no chance of winning. So why put STL leadership through a charade, send them through a maze of glasshouse mirrors, and waste the time and energy of two devoted men (and many other individuals here) that were only trying to satisfy the league’s directive for preserving NFL football in St. Louis?

I’ll never understand why Kroenke and his attorney Alan Bornstein felt such a feverish desire and to napalm the city with a vicious attack in the Rams’ official relocation application that contained outright lies, half-truths, misinformation, and gratuitous condemnation of a struggling but proud town that valiantly tried to come through with a first-class stadium? Why couldn’t Kroenke and Bornstein calmly and professionally make the case for moving without nuking the place on the way out? The NFL had already rigged this process to end happily Kroenke, so why drop bombs?

The unseemly tactics were approved by the NFL. We know that because Goodell piled on a few days later with propaganda that came in the form of an official report that signed off on the Rams’ alleged fulfillment of the official relocation guidelines. Goodell repeated some of Kroenke’s lies, and completely disregarded the $400 million in public money placed on the table by St. Louis. Again: why not just get along with your slimy business and take the team away without insulting and tormenting a fan base that had been battered by horrendous football, a conniving owner, and the open-ended threat of the franchise moving? When Bill Bidwill applied to move the Cardinals to Arizona in 1988, he actually praised the St. Louis fans and expressed appreciation for their support before citing his reason for requesting a transfer: his disappointment over the city-county decision to reject Bidwill’s request for a new stadium.

Why did Goodell throw a tantrum when league finance chairman Bob McNair pledged an extra $100 million of league money for the STL stadium project in exchange for a ticket-tax abatement for the team? Goodell made it clear the $100 million contribution wasn’t going to happen for St. Louis … only to turn around Tuesday and give the Chargers and Raiders $100 million apiece for potential stadium solutions in their current markets. The hypocrisy — even by NFL standards — was appalling.

Why did St. Louis — the only at-risk market that made the effort to come up with at least $400 million in public money — get crushed and swept aside by the league, when Oakland and San Diego didn’t even bother to file an actionable stadium proposal by the league’s Dec. 30 deadline? How could the one market that tried to satisfy the NFL’s demands get blown away in favor of two markets that did nothing to remedy their severe stadium problems?

This is real Malice in Wonderland stuff: hammer the city that did everything to deliver the money — and generously reward the two markets that did nothing. The Chargers and/or Raiders may ultimately move, but at least for now San Diego and Oakland have a chance to keep their teams, and the NFL tossed them a $100 million gift to try and make it happen. St. Louis, and that $400 million? GET OUT. The moral of the story: try to do everything right and lose your team; do everything wrong and keep your team. What a filthy, corrupt enterprise.

I’ll never understand why Kroenke — even after getting permission to flee — deemed it necessary to produce a vomit-inducing written statement in which he declared his everlasting love for St. Louis and Missouri.

“St. Louis is a city known for its incredibly hard-working, passionate and proud people,” Kroenke wrote.

(Yes, the incredibly hard-working, passionate and proud people that you tried to eviscerate in your relocation application. And how generous of Kroenke to say, during a rare news conference, that he hoped his stadium-entertainment complex would help the low-income residents of Inglewood.)

“Being part of the group that brought the NFL back to St. Louis in 1995 is one of the proudest moments of my professional career,” Kroenke said. “Reaching two Super Bowls and winning one are things all St. Louisans should always treasure.”

(The Rams had four winning records in 21 seasons here. They haven’t had a winning season since 2003. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2004. They’re stalled on a streak of 12 consecutive losing seasons that includes nine straight losing seasons and the league’s worst winning percentage (.295) since 2007. Thanks, Stan. We’re grateful.)

“While there understandably has been emotionally charged commentary regarding our motives and intentions, the speculation is not true and unfounded,’ Kroenke wrote. “I am a Missouri native named after two St. Louis sports legends who I was fortunate enough to know on a personal level. This move isn’t about whether I love St. Louis or Missouri. I do and always will. No matter what anyone says, that will never change.”

(I assume that the person who penned this for Kroenke was hopelessly intoxicated, and laughing hysterically while writing this Hallmark card to St. Louis.)

WHAT I DO UNDERSTAND:

The Chicken Littles were right about Kroenke moving to Los Angeles. I made fun of them at first — something I’ve subsequently admitted many times. I simply underestimated Kroenke’s greed, especially after he expressed pride in his Missouri roots and honorable reputation while telling me in 2010 that he’d never lead the charge out of St. Louis to Los Angeles. I took the man at his word … at least until it became obvious to me (belatedly) that he wasn’t telling the truth. Either way, my bad.

I understand that the team’s LA-based fans are celebrating, thrilled to have the Rams on the way. I don’t blame them for being happy. They wanted the Rams to return, and their wish has been granted. We felt the same way in 1995. So I congratulate the LA fans. It would be petty to hate on them. They weren’t responsible for moving the team; that was done by Kroenke, Goodell, Grubman and gutless owners. Many of these same LA fans were heartbroken when the Rams moved to St. Louis; their anguish is now our anguish. This is just one of the ugly, awful sides of professional sports. LA and STL fans know all about it.

Never trust Goodell. Ever. (Stating the obvious here, eh?)

I understand that there are good men in this league … some of whom served on the LA committee. They tried to be fair to Peacock and the task force, only to get bulldozed at the end of the road by Goodell and Grubman (the league’s executive VP.)

I know that you can count me out on leading a charge to recruit an NFL team to St. Louis. And this insanity is bubbling up already. According to Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal, who put this on Twitter Tuesday night, NFL in-house lobbyist Cynthia Hogan said “St. Louis is not necessarily done as an NFL city.” Hogan also said (via Kaplan) that had the (Chargers-Raiders) Carson project prevailed over Inglewood the extra $100 million would have gone to St. Louis instead.

Goodness. Is it even possible to be more callous? The Rams haven’t even packed up and the NFL is already trying to set up St. Louis as a leverage station to be used at a later date by NFL team owners that want to put pressure on their local politicians to come up with substantial public money for a new stadium or extensive stadium renovations.

I understand that this is a great city, a tough city with immense pride, a city that faces the inevitable problems that are familiar to most Midwest and Rust Belt towns. It’s also a city with character. It stings to lose the Rams, but the pain will ease. If anything we’ll have more fondness for the Cardinals and Blues and Mizzou. We’ll feel more loyalty, and have a stronger bond, with Blues owner Tom Stillman and Cards owner Bill DeWitt Jr. and the many athletes that bring this town joy.

St. Louis has been knocked around lately, experiencing tragedy and tumult in Ferguson, the damaging floods, and the hard every-day realities that defy easy, simplistic solutions. And now the NFL and Kroenke kicked us when we’re down, abandoning us despite our sincere efforts to make it work for the league and the Rams. We’ll get over it. This metropolitan area didn’t collapse without an NFL team between 1988 and 1994. NFL or no NFL, the challenges remain: better schools, less crime, and more jobs.

I’d rather appreciate what we have instead of agonizing over what we don’t have. No one is going to care about St. Louis except the people who are St. Louis, and a man named after Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial wasn’t going to fix our problems. So we have to look out for each other. Because we’re here. We’re staying. We’ll dig in. We won’t run away. I’m damned proud to live in this city.

Only one obvious conclusion for St. Louis: The fix was in

Howard Balzer

http://www.ksdk.com/story/sports/nfl/rams/2016/01/13/only-one-obvious-conclusion-st-louis-fix/78730048/

HOUSTON – At the end of the day, it’s fair to say the fix was in. We never really had a chance. Is there any other conclusion to reach?

After all, in a year in which the National Football League will celebrate the golden anniversary of its championship game, the Super Bowl, league owners voted Tuesday to support the man with the most gold, Rams owner Stan Kroenke, approving the relocation of the team from St. Louis to a Los Angeles-area stadium in Inglewood.

It was Kroenke who first helped the Rams move to St. Louis from Anaheim in 1995 when he joined then-owner Georgia Frontiere as a 40-percent partner. Now, 21 years later, he and the owners allowed the relocation despite a stadium plan that included $400 million of public money and cost $16 million to achieve what it did.

Yet, with straight faces, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stood at the podium and talked about how “we have not been successful in getting stadiums done in the home markets.”

Kroenke claimed he had engaged with the community and looked for an “alternative, but it didn’t succeed.”

Really? It all sounds like the theory of the big lie. Keep saying it enough and you actually begin believing it. Most eye-opening was the decision that was reached even after the LA Opportunities Committee recommended the Carson plan for the Chargers and Raiders. All along, Chargers owner Dean Spanos had said he had no interest in partnering with Kroenke or with the Inglewood project. However, when it became apparent early in the day that there weren’t enough votes to get that deal approved, everything shifted quickly.

The eventual deal was certainly one no one could have anticipated. The Chargers have an option that expires on Jan. 15, 2017, to be the second team in Inglewood, unless a referendum to approve public financing for a new stadium in San Diego is approved prior to Nov. 15, 2016. If that happens, the option could be extended until Jan. 15, 2018. The Raiders have a conditional option to be the second team, and that period would begin on the day that the Chargers’ option expires.

Said Raiders owner Mark Davis, “This is not a win for the Raiders. We have to work hard to find a home.”

Most remarkable is two teams that have been trying in vain to get a new stadium for more than a decade have now been given a reprieve and will be given an extra $100 million to boot. That’s right. An extra $100 million. The same figure that Goodell said was a non-starter for the riverfront stadium plan.

When I asked New York Giants owner Steve Tisch how that money could be viewed as a negative for the St. Louis plan but is being provided for the Chargers and Rams, he said, “I can’t answer that.”

The league’s relocation rules have been ignored and now should be shredded, just like the cross-ownership rules should be that allowed Kroenke to transfer ownership of his NBA Denver Nuggets and NHL Colorado Avalanche to his wife.

After the decision both the task force and Gov. Jay Nixon issued statements. From the task force: “Today’s decision by the NFL concludes a flawed process that ends with the unthinkable result of St. Louis losing the Rams. Over the past 15 months, our stadium task force has delivered in every respect to what the NFL demanded of St. Louis to keep our team. More important, over the past 21 seasons, most of them dire, St. Louis has been remarkably supportive of and faithful to the Rams. We will leave it to the NFL to explain how this could happen and hope the next city that may experience what St. Louis has endured will enjoy a happier and more appropriate outcome.

“Here in St. Louis and throughout our region, we are incredibly grateful for the energy and support we received during this journey. What St. Louis was able to accomplish in a very, very short time was, and is, amazing. That our collective efforts will not be rewarded, or recognized, is very unfortunate. We all deserve better, but never forget that we just showed everyone and ourselves what St. Louis is capable of achieving. The best days for St. Louis are not far away.”

Nixon had an interesting take on just what might be next:

“Tonight’s decision is disappointing, and a clear deviation from the NFL’s guidelines. It is troubling that the league would allow for the relocation of a team when a home market has worked in good faith and presented a strong and viable proposal. This sets a terrible precedent not only for St. Louis, but for all communities that have loyally supported their NFL franchises. Regardless of tonight’s action, the fact remains that St. Louis is a world-class city deserving of a world-class NFL team. We will review the NFL’s decision thoroughly before determining what next steps to take. In particular, we are interested in their justification for departing so significantly from the NFL’s guidelines after St. Louis had – in record time – presented a proposal for a first-class stadium.”

Jones claimed after the vote, “This was not a vote against St. Louis, which is a great city. There can be opportunity there.”

When asked what that might be, Jones said, “It can happen.” Right. Just more lip service from a league that sand-bagged St. Louis and left Spanos and Davis feeling like they’d been hit by a truck. And the league wouldn’t even care if they suffered concussions for their trouble.

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Goodbye, St. Louis Rams; next stop, LA

David Hunn

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/goodbye-st-louis-rams-next-stop-la/article_ae537abe-8471-5ac3-9edc-2c3174ce7fd9.html

HOUSTON • National Football League owners on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to strip the Rams from St. Louis and send the team to owner Stan Kroenke’s proposed $2 billion stadium in Los Angeles County.

The owners also agreed, after more than 10 hours of presentations and negotiations, to allow Dean Spanos to move his San Diego Chargers — but not to the site he proposed. Instead, after multiple closed-door meetings, Spanos agreed to consider leasing or buying into Kroenke’s stadium in Inglewood, southwest of downtown L.A.

The Rams will play in a temporary home in the Los Angeles area next season.

The news almost immediately drew outrage from St. Louis fans, and disappointment from local leaders.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said in a statement that the NFL ignored the facts, the strength of the market, the local plan to build a new stadium, and the loyalty of St. Louis fans, “who supported the team through far more downs than ups.”

St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger said he was “bitterly” disappointed.

Dave Peacock, co-chairman of the task force to build a new football stadium here, called his work with the NFL more “contemplated and contrived than I realized.”

“We’d aim for a target, hit it, and they’d say, no the target was over here,” he said of the NFL’s direction.

And lifelong fans, such as Mickey Right, were crestfallen.

“This whole thing’s made me want to become a basketball fan,” said Right, who visited the Edward Jones Dome late Tuesday in homage. “It just really loses your faith in the NFL. It’s supposed to be a league of integrity.”

The Rams and the Chargers, if the team moves, will each pay a $550 million relocation fee.

Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis is, for now, left out of moving plans. Spanos had worked with him for at least a year on a two-team stadium in Carson, Calif., just south of Kroenke’s site.

“We’ll see where Raider Nation ends up here,” he said after the meetings. “We’ll be looking for a home.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said after the meetings that Davis will have the opportunity to take the second spot in Inglewood, if Spanos declines. Also, the league has agreed to pay an extra $100 million — beyond the $200 million in NFL stadium construction funds — to either Spanos or Davis, whichever stays in his hometown.

Goodell called both the Carson and the Inglewood projects “outstanding.”

But he said he expected Kroenke’s plan to become “one of the greatest” sports and entertainment complexes in the world.

“We have the return of the Los Angeles Rams to their home,” Goodell said. “We have a facility that is going to be absolutely extraordinary in the Los Angeles market that I think fans are going to absolutely love. And I think it’s going to set a new bar for all sports, quite frankly. And, that, we’re very proud of.”

Those close to the process said after the meeting that it was Kroenke’s stadium vision — in its physical beauty, surrounding redevelopment, and its pitch to house the NFL’s substantial media businesses — that swayed owners. They came into the meeting, insiders said privately, liking his plan better.

Still, they had to vote twice to cut the deal. The first vote favored Kroenke, 20-12, but failed to get the necessary three-fourths of the league’s 32 owners, as required when a team applies to move to a new city.

The owners then took a break while several met behind closed doors with Spanos and Davis.

The final vote came in 30-2, several sources told the Post-Dispatch — and left St. Louis without an NFL team, again.

ST. LOUIS SAGA

The day was historic for the league. Owners have never agreed to relocate two teams at once.

And it ends a year of deliberations by finally returning the NFL to Los Angeles, which has been without a team for more than two decades.

Most credit Kroenke for starting the race. Three years ago, the billionaire real estate developer took his landlords at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis to arbitration over the now-infamous “first tier” clause in their lease. The clause required the state of Missouri, city of St. Louis and St. Louis County to renovate the Dome — for about $700 million — up to the league’s “first tier,” or top eight stadia. Local officials declined, and, as prescribed in the lease, the Rams went year-to-year at the Dome.

Two years ago, Kroenke bought land in Inglewood, next to the Los Angeles International Airport. Just a year ago, he announced he was building a “world-class” stadium there.

Spanos has said publicly that he took Kroenke’s move as a direct threat to the Chargers’ fan base, one-fourth of which comes from L.A., he said. Soon after Kroenke’s announcement, Spanos and Davis announced a two-team stadium in Carson.

In the meantime, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon named a stadium task force, which proposed a $1.1 billion open-air stadium on the St. Louis riverfront — with $400 million in public funding — just north of downtown.

The past year featured regular revelations. At some point, nearly every pundit made a prediction.

Then, last week, the league’s relocation filing period opened, and all three teams submitted. Kroenke pitched a sparkling stadium set among shops, restaurants and hotels. His proposal also blasted St. Louis, calling the city “struggling,” and the region unable to sustain three professional sports teams.

Moreover, Kroenke said, Nixon’s stadium plan was so inadequate, not only would the Rams decline, but any NFL team that took the deal was on the path to “financial ruin.”

Officials, from Mayor Slay to Sen. Claire McCaskill, were outraged. Nixon’s stadium task force sent a point-by-point response to the league.

But, this past weekend, Goodell sent a report to all owners saying that the task force plan was inadequate.

Early on Tuesday, it seemed like St. Louis fans could hold on to hopes that owners might vote otherwise. The league’s Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities, made up of six influential owners, recommended in favor of the Carson project.

But by midday, it didn’t seem to matter. Kroenke’s proposal took top billing in early votes, and the owners broke several times, with L.A. committee members meeting in private with Spanos and Davis.

FUTURE OF NFL IN ST. LOUIS

Late Tuesday a triumphant Kroenke took the stage, unflinchingly, in a large room at the Westin Hotel, site of the meeting. “This is the hardest undertaking that I’ve faced in my career,” Kroenke said. “I understand the emotional side.”

Kroenke, infamous for ducking the spotlight, spoke haltingly, but answered every question asked by dozens of reporters at the news conference. It was the most he had said to St. Louis in two years.

And he was unapologetic.

“We worked hard, got a little bit lucky, and had a lot of people help us,” he said, nodding to league staff.

“We have to have a first-class stadium product.”

After the press conference, as NFL security ushered Goodell away from the throngs, the commissioner stopped for a moment to discuss the NFL’s future in St. Louis.

“We haven’t had an opportunity to speak to the governor; of course, I will,” Goodell told the Post-Dispatch. “I think that’s got to be a decision we jointly have to make.

“It’s going to take a high-quality stadium that we’re comfortable with,” Goodell said. “That’s a starting point.”

And then, he said, they’ll have to match St. Louis to a team.