The cities and states that San Diego and St Louis kicked it with the St Louis Rams have been making noise about their discontent with Los Angeles move. However the big dog on the block, Rams owner Stan Kroenke, is glad they’re speaking up because he says it makes him so much easier to move his franchise.
Kroenke has an insane advantage when it comes to sports franchises. He is the only one of those owners with a publicly traded stock, which essentially means he’s now an NFL owner so any public meeting he decides to attend is a global spectacle.
But Kroenke knows he has the power to settle this if he wants to. We saw it during the L.A. move, and we’re now seeing it again. According to the owner of the sports television channel that broadcasts Rams games, Bob Blitz’s team is doing what they can to bring attention to those cities’ concerns.
Without a moving problem, the NFL’s commissioner is at ease. But what about the cities? According to Rams voice Dave Stram, it’s in their best interest to show their anger at Kroenke for his disregard for their communities, which are investing their own money into the team.
“It’s for our own consideration as cities to express discontent and dissatisfaction with the team and with what they’re doing, their franchise,” Stram said, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Is it for our benefit? No, it’s for their benefit.”
There are issues where the Rams can and should play in Missouri, including the east and west ends of the Gateway Arch, more than 40 Super Bowls, and any number of reasons where it’s a great thing to have the team. And they could just stay in St. Louis too, but it is no longer a good business decision to maintain a Rams franchise based in a state that also happens to be an NFL market. It’s obviously against the Rams’ best interests.
If it is in St. Louis’ best interest for the Rams to stay put then the fans have no way of getting the attention of Kroenke, the NFL, or the other NFL owners. But with profits as a determining factor in the NFL, there will be always be a path for Kroenke to move his team.
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