St. Louis Rams Rumors: London Games, Dodgers Bid Foreshadow Return To Los Angeles

Thursday, February 2, 2012

By Kris Knox

losangelesfootballstadium.com

Featured NFL Writer


The city of Los Angeles is desperately seeking to lure the NFL back to town, going so far as to begin constructing a state of the art stadium in anticipation of the potential move.

While the return of football to the Los Angeles market would almost certainly be a good thing for the NFL, the question remains as to which city--and which loyal fan base--is going to give up its team?

The St. Louis Rams currently sit as the most likely candidate for relocation, which is certainly disturbing news for the team's fans. As fans of the Baltimore Colts and original Cleveland Browns can certainly tell you, losing your team can be a heartbreaking affair and one that seems completely unfair to the thousands of individuals who pack the stadium for each home game and who loyally follow the team's television and radio broadcasts.

However, the National Football League is a business above all else, and sometimes a business dictates moves which may be unpopular with the sport's audience.

Unfortunately for St. Louis fans, business matters seem to be pushing the Rams ever closer toward a relocation back to Los Angeles.

At the heart of the matter is the back-and-forth conflict between the Rams and the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission (CVC) over the team's stadium lease. Under terms of the lease, the CVC had until Feb. 1 to outline plans to upgrade the Edward Jones Dome by 2015 or else the team can back out of the lease following the 2014 season.

If the standing lease did not create enough conflict on its own, the Rams' plan to play home games in London over the next three years certainly does. As part of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's global expansion project, the Rams have agreed to play one home game at London's Wembley Stadium in each of the next three seasons.

While the team contends that the move will raise the Rams' global awareness and ultimately benefit the city of St. Louis, the CVC isn't buying it.

Instead of embracing the Rams' excursion into the global market, the CVC is attempting to block it, stating that such a move would be in violation of the team's stadium lease. A section of the lease agreement requires the Rams to play all regular season home games at the Edward Jones Dome as long as the stadium is in adequate condition.

While the CVC going public with the lease issues is an obvious attempt to paint the Rams as the "bad guy" in the situation, it is a plan that could ultimately backfire.

The Los Angeles stadium project is expected to be completed in 2015, which would already be perfect timing for the Rams if they are allowed to opt out of the lease following the 2014 season. Should the London games cause the CVC to take any sort of legal action, do not expect even the best stadium upgrades to keep the Rams in St. Louis beyond that date.

Rams owner Steve Kroenke, like many owners, is used to calling the shots and increased tension will do nothing to strengthen his relationship with the CVC or with the city of St. Louis.

Considering Kroenke is currently bidding on ownership of the Dodgers, the Rams relocation to Los Angeles could be all but inevitable anyway. The NFL's cross-ownership policy prohibits an NFL owner from owning a sports franchise in a market held by another NFL team. This means that if Kroenke ends up owning the Dodgers, the Rams are technically the only NFL team that could move to Los Angeles.

Unless, of course, Kroenke decides to sell the Rams, which is an unlikely scenario at best.


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