Just when you thought the Rams’ only concern was who they were going to draft for next season’s team, think again.
What appeared to be a done deal in the imminent sale of the team has hit a major snag. It is one that may be a rule-changer in the ownership rules of the NFL.
Current owner Chip Rosenbloom had cut a deal with Illinois businessman Shad Khan. At that point, people started to run around and say nice things about a person they had no idea about. It had gotten to the point where any information about Mr. Khan was like TMZ wanting to know what Tiger had for breakfast.
It was somewhat comical because people in St. Louis were trying to find some degree of separation for a link to a relationship. I readily admit that I do not know Shad Khan from the new mailman on my street. I figured at some point we would pass through the night and that was fine with me.
While the whole Khan deal was taking shape, someone forgot to read the fine print in the deal. It said that minority investor Stan Kroenke was just going to stay silent, and either hope to be bought out or go along with the same plan that he has been following for the last 15 years.
Someone might have thought that after all this time Kroenke might want to change the script. This was a re-write of epic proportions. Kroenke, who had a right of first refusal, exercised it, which means he was willing to buy the whole team and own 100 percent of it.
It is a great move, but there may be a hiccup in the dealings. The National Football League has a rule that no owner can own a pro team in the four major sports in another city. It’s pretty sticky considering that Kroenke owns the NBA and NHL teams in Denver, which would put him in the red on this rule.
Or, at least, so we thought.
Stan Kroenke is a very, very successful businessman who knows the art of the deal. So why is he entering into a deal he can’t do?
Simple. Kroenke has done his homework. He was told that he was under bidding when it came to him initially buying the team, so he sat back and let someone else set the price.
He has obviously been talking to other NFL owners and has to believe that the ownership rule may be changed in his favor. It also seems that the NFL owners have (off the record) no interest in having Shad Khan as a member of their billionaire club.
You can just make up the reasons on your own as to why they may not want Khan. While you will not be able to get a quote from anyone, you can get a whisper or two that his Pakistani heritage has made some uncomfortable.
That could be one of the issues, along with an alleged tax issue. The bottom line is the NFL is not comfortable and would be willing to look the other way to get one of their own people in place. They would rather have someone they know and have done business with in the past.
The owners meet next month. How they make this thing look will be interesting.
Who, by the way, is Stan Kroenke? Other than his being a billionaire who likes sports, what does anyone know about him? He has been a part-owner for 15 years, and how many times have you heard anything from him, let alone seen him around town?
Because of his real estate development background, he may be thinking of packing this Rams thing up to move to Los Angeles, as they are looking for a tenant.
Did I mention that the Rams have the first pick in the draft? It’s funny how that has now become secondary.