“I remember the day coach Rich Brooks stood up in front of the team (in Anaheim) and said, “It’s solidified. We’re moving. We’re going to St. Louis.”

I thought Chuck Knox was coach when the move from LA to STL was “solidified”, not Richie Rich.

BTW, My brother and I would try to attend 1 or 2 games per season in Anaheim, we’d fly down from San Jose or sometimes, my old college roomates or friends would drive down for a game……….The last RAMS game I attended in Anaheim was 1994 opening day… Cardinals vs RAMS game ……RAMS won ugly that day……. we stayed and the Emerald Hotel in Anaheim and the night before the game we rode an elevator with Jerome Bettis, my brother asked him about the potential move… Jerome wanted to stay in LA, he also had high regard for coach Knox……

NFL Owners OK Rams’ Move to St. Louis

April 13, 1995|T.J. SIMERS | TIMES STAFF WRITER
IRVING, Tex. — The Los Angeles Rams are history, officially gone from Anaheim to St. Louis after winning the National Football League’s blessing Wednesday with a $46-million payment.

In addition to a $29-million relocation fee, the Rams agreed to pay $17 million from the proceeds of personal seat licenses, which are one-time fees for rights to buy season tickets.

Twenty-three of the 30 league owners must approve a franchise move, and they voted 22 to 6 in favor Wednesday, with the Los Angeles Raiders abstaining. Rams owner Georgia Frontiere, who had been asked to remain outside during the special meeting, was then called on to cast the deciding vote.

“I thought about it for a few minutes,” she joked.

“My grandmother had a saying: ‘Go little where wanted, go not at all where little wanted.’ And that’s about the way it’s been (in Anaheim). I think they will be better off too,” Frontiere said.

After the vote on the Rams, the Raiders’ stadium concerns were discussed for an hour. Discussions included financial assistance for the construction of a new playing facility, and a guarantee that it would be the site of at least two Super Bowls. The league is expected to agree to partly fund the proposed stadium at Hollywood Park, but a vote will not be taken until the league’s May meetings in Jacksonville, Fla.

“We spent a lot of time talking about the Raiders,” Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “I can’t imagine L.A. without a football team, but who would have thought two years ago the Rams would be out of L.A.?”

League owners also approved the bid of Stan Kroenke, a Columbia, Mo., businessman, to purchase 30% of the Rams from Frontiere.

The Rams will play four games in Busch Stadium in St. Louis and finish the 1995 regular season in a $260-million domed stadium under construction.

Before they make their first appearance in St. Louis, the Rams will play the Raiders in an exhibition game, presumably in Southern California, and possibly at Anaheim Stadium.

The Rams’ move, the brainchild of Rams President John Shaw, ends a 50-year relationship with Southern California, and again gives St. Louis, which lost the Cardinals to Phoenix in 1988, pro football.

“I’m just relieved that it’s finished,” Shaw said. “I’m happy for the fans of St. Louis and I hope that fans in Los Angeles will get another NFC team.”

League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said placing another National Football Conference team in the Los Angeles market is a high priority.

“We hope to be able to put together a plan to have a second team in L.A.,” he said. “It could be expansion or it could be the relocation of an existing franchise.”

Tagliabue backed away from a plan calling for the Rams to establish a stadium trust fund for the renovation or construction of a stadium in Southern California.

“The (Finance) Committee felt that was a judgment that would be premature to make,” he said. “Many clubs felt the best use (of the $29-million relocation fee from the Rams) was for NFL charities.”

Shaw said he believes the league will make an attempt to place another NFC team in the Los Angeles area at the conclusion of the league’s television contract after the 1997 season.

“I think it’s in the best interests of the league to have teams playing in Los Angeles, but playing in modern facilities,” Shaw said.

The Rams exercised an escape clause in their Anaheim Stadium lease to begin the pursuit of a state-of-the-art football facility that would provide additional opportunities for revenue, such as premium seating and luxury boxes.

Shaw struck a lucrative deal with St. Louis that hinged on the sale of more than $70 million in personal seat licenses. He contended that the proceeds from those seats belonged to the Rams. The league said member clubs were entitled to 33% of that money.

The NFL Finance Committee met late into the night Tuesday and then came to Shaw demanding the $46 million. The NFL wanted the Rams to pay the league $20 million now and the remainder over 15 years.

“I advised Georgia and Stan not to accept the NFL’s offer,” Shaw said. “I thought it had become too pricey, but it’s their team and it was their decision to make.”

Frontiere and Kroenke, aware that the NFL’s offer has built-in provisos that could drive up the Rams’ obligation to $71.5 million, agreed to settle.

Although it appeared that Frontiere had to buy her way to St. Louis, Tagliabue strongly disagreed.

“It did not come down to a money deal with the Rams,” Tagliabue said. “That is a completely erroneous implication and had very little to do with it. There will be no money paid to the other member clubs of the league. There is a payment called for to the league which may go to NFL charities, or may go to a stadium trust fund. But (money) was the least of our concerns.”

Coach Robinson lost some weight… looks good for his age. He was the perfect coach for a team that was on the cheap.

Come out and Playeeay!

zn wrote:

I think what they can do is line up someone to play the safety position. SF has had great success against this Gregg Williams scheme, even during the bounty gate era. There was no friggin safety in position to make a play last night…. it was frustrating, like watching a bad HS team.

I just have to disagree with this.

There is no way on earth Jenkins is supposed to play it the way he did. He blundered and hugely. Who is supposed to anticipate that happening? It’s like, you’re not supposed to text while driving during rush hour. If you text while driving during rush hour, I won’t be sympathetic to the idea there should have been a traffic cop there to warn the other drivers.

I know the ESPN talking heads tried to put this one on Wms but I just saw that as them shamelessly exonerating Jenkins for a basics 101 level dumb dumb dumb play.

There’s reason why SF called that play right before half… they knew there would be no coverage over the top… at it burned JJ with no help over the top.

wv wrote:

I wonder if there’s anything different
the coaches can do — or if they
just need to ‘believe’ and stay
the course.

They are going to feel more heat
now than at any time since
Fisher got here.

It will be interesting to see
what Fisher does.

This sure doesnt seem like
what we tend to think of
when we think of a
Jeff Fisher team.

w
v

I think what they can do is line up someone to play the safety position. SF has had great success against this Gregg Williams scheme, even during the bounty gate era. There was no friggin safety in position to make a play last night…. it was frustrating, like watching a bad HS team.

Also, the RAMS never got a clean hit on the QB, had they played that game on grass, the SF QB would not need to take his uni to the cleaners today, he was untouched, and when he was there was a horse collar penalty….

I agree with RFL, this coaching staff needs some accountability, but what are you gonna do, fire Gregg Williams in October?

Seattle, at KC, a rested SF team in Santa Clara, in AZ, Denver, at SD, which of these games do they have a chance?

Also, I’ve seen enough of Austin Davis, his transmission doesn’t have a clutch, or it needs to be replaced. If Fisher hates or Shawn Hill can’t go, let’s see Case Keenum.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 10 months ago by joemad.

the ultimate NFL helmet……… I notice the inter-office envelopes laying on the side of the photo….I guess they still have a mail guy at RAMS park and use these to convey information….

I wonder what’s in those envelopes?

I’m watching Det at Minn because I’ve haven’t watched a game in this new stadium and that Vegas has the Vikings favored in this game and that has me perplexed.

21… Folks said the samething about Warner’s hand.

Don’t chase Bradford away like the Rams did with Bettis and Warner. The Titanic beat Russell Wilson and Kapernick in head to head games and has lots of life left.

There is no doubt in my mind that if Sam leaves he’ll haunt the Rams like Warner did.

Grits, were you able to make the trip with the rest of the So Cal Ram fans?

Got Bucs vs Steelers…..tightest game right now on Sunday Tix

Got the Raider game on the radio in the backyard …….backyard antenna tv is showing Bears vs Pack.

MIKE: From time immemorial, the worst thing to call in that situation has been a slow-developing run. Hell, the Cowboys barely even had anyone lined up over LG; Davis could have fallen down for a first. But no, let’s pull with slow Joseph and open up a lane for the LB to burst through while we do what looks like a delayed handoff to Stacy. I’m fine with the Rams going for it there, but they needed a much better play call.

FISHER: It was the play we needed. It wasn’t blocked properly. (G) Rodger (Saffold) was supposed to seal the run-through on the middle linebacker and he didn’t. He stayed down on the three-technique. It’s potentially a big play. It was a mistake.

I see this all the time. A playcall complaint that begins by saying what you never, ever do…according to the True Football Guide to What You Never Do. And, invariably, when you find out more, it’s an execution issue fans can’t see because they don’t know assignments. This is one reason I just don’t judge a coordinator by boiling the discussion down to a single play. One of my favorites from years ago was a badly blocked shovel pass in the redzone that got blown up. The OC was Shurmur. The discussion centered on the fact that you never, ever, ever, EVER run a shovel pass in the redzone–it’s unthinkable, it’s not done. And then Thomas wrote the play up and it turns out a blocker blew an assignment. Plus it was easy to find examples on youtube and in google searches of teams successfully running shovel passes in the redzone. In the end the entire genre of “true footall knowledge tells us this play in this situation is never never called” is bogus, and best avoided; and the whole idea that you can judge a coordinator based on your read of one play is also always bogus. If you try the one key play analysis of a coordinator, you usually end up just begging the question about execution issues. Most complaints about Schott I see, for example, just routinely fail to separate execution issues from playcall issues.

I too, like Mike “Freaking” Franke, thought the play was slow to develop, but the RAMS should not have been in that position to begin with… Kick the friggin FG…. folks would knock Knox and Robinson for being conservative, but that’s why they consistently won 10 games per season with guys like Kemp, Dieter, Haden, etc….. and guys like Fisher are .500 guys…..

…put…. the….points ….on …..the ……board.

there was much more momentum to gain for Dallas for stuffing that play than if the RAMS moved the chains there…..

i’m still not over the fake punt at Candlestick last year… who in the fuck does that on the road from deep in their own territory? very little momentum for the RAMS to gain there, while SF erupted and put the game away after that.

game time decisions like kill me and makes me think that Fisher wants to be one of the boys……..fuck that, lead the team, put points on the board and win games.

How old is Marty Shottenhiemer?… perhaps his son is not good at calling those plays because his dad wouldn’t pull that shit either.

I wonder which RAMS message board Ty Burrell posts on?

not bad considering the game was played on the road, against a defense that is not a bottom feeder (ranked 14th).

another decent defense this Sunday……….Dallas D is ranked 12th……13th against the pass………… tied for 2nd with RAMS in sacks with 7

regarding Sacks…. Jax is 1st with 13 sax this season…..

STL fans better be louder than the Dallas fans that will no doubt be in attendance.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 11 months ago by joemad.

Mike “Freaking” Franke…….. nice use of the freaking……………Bobby “freaking” Raininy and DeMarco “Freaking” Murray….

he should’ve used one on Keith “Freaking” Null!

I remember those games against Murray…. RAMS D need to finally stop him…… and some picks off Tony “Freaking” Romo!!!!

Dallas favored by 1.

I was a sophomore in HS… in 79

Kid # 2 is a sophomore in HS this year……….

Can you say 9-7 this year with a Super Bowl appearance???? of course not….

here is the box score to that game… RAMS won in OT against Minnesota ….. url =
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197912020ram.htm