I tend to agree with all of that, too, with the exception of Assumption #5, and I am not sold on #3 or #4. I am not so sure that neither Oakland nor San Diego will come up with a stadium plan. St. Louis pulled one out when nobody expected them to.
I think it is less likely that Oakland will come up with anything because Oakland is working on a new stadium for the A’s right now. I think I read that, anyway. But I would not be surprised by a San Diego solution that is the equivalent to the St. Louis solution.
While I think the NFL would prefer the Rams to stay put, I think the likelihood of the Carson project unraveling at some point is greater than the Inglewood project unraveling. There are more variables, more ways the Carson project can go wrong. Kroenke’s stadium construction plan stops ONLY if he gets some other opportunity he likes as well i.e. the Broncos. While I have a hard time picturing Kroenke pulling an Al Davis and moving regardless, I also have an equally hard time seeing him settle for less than the vision of the Los Angeles Rams that he has created, drawn up, and planned for. Neither action seems in character for him. He has no history of going rogue, and he has no history of being denied. So either way, we are going to see something new from Kroenke. Remember how he got the Rams? There was Khan coming strong, and talk about cross-ownership impediments, and Kroenke can’t do it, and…BOOM.
I just think the St. Louis stadium is “settling for less,” and I’m not sure he’s going to be happy with the runner-up proposal when there isn’t anything to stop him from taking first place in the beauty pageant except his own conscience. That biography of Kroenke I posted a few weeks ago portrays a man whose business approach is to make a business goal, and treat it like a fence post. You just keep banging on it, again and again, until you get what you want. He is steady, he is patient, and he is relentless. In the mean time, his stadium project is in the lead in the timeline. We’re at the quarter post, and Kroenke is in the lead by two lengths. Stopping Kroenke, I think, will require a firm and united NFL (if LA is what he truly wants, and all indications are that it is). I am not making a prediction on how this will end, but I will say that if Kroenke gets more than half of the owners – including some rich and powerful ones (and it appears he has Jerry Jones) – I’d be surprised if he takes No for an answer.
I don’t think they are going to persuade Kroenke. They are going to have to compel Kroenke.
He is not going to accept the Spanos/Davis LA “solution” as being more appropriate. What? They’re entitled to it cuz their daddies were pioneers, and they have family legacies, and they live closer anyway, and besides, they couldn’t get anything done in their hometowns, so they should get LA.
Yeah, I don’t think so. The man is a sociopath, and he isn’t going to feel sorry for Dean and Mark, especially now that they are gunking up his business plan. The NFL is either going to have to forcefully stop him by making it too painful for him to move, or bribe him somehow, maybe by some ownership transfers that leave the Rams in St. Louis and Kroenke in LA with a different team.
i still don’t understand why the league would favor a raiders/chargers move over a rams move. in fact, i’d see every reason to favor the rams move. kroenke would seem to be the more qualified owner. and the other team can always move at a later date and play in kroenke’s stadium.
plus, the chargers/raiders move depends on BOTH teams actually moving which is far from certain while kroenke seems intent on pushing through with the stadium project. and this is the league’s best opportunity yet to finally have an nfl team back in la. what happens if one of oakland or san diego come up with a stadium plan? the carson site is nixed and los angeles is again without a team. and i’m fairly confident the league does not want that to happen.
i agree with you. kroenke is a guy who is used to getting what he wants. the league also wants a strong owner in los angeles. spanos and davis don’t strike me as strong owners. at least in the business sense. kroenke might be a sociopath. but he’s a sociopath who gets things done. and that’d be just fine with the league.
