For the past few years the writing was on the wall that St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke intended to take the Rams back to Los Angeles. Tuesday, the wall came crumbling down. After a dizzying series of votes, NFL owners approved Kroenke’s application for relocation and his Inglewood stadium proposal. Like they did so many times on the field, the St. Louis Rams just up and disappeared.
Fans in Los Angeles are ecstatic. The nation’s second largest media market has been without football since the Rams and Raiders scurried away for smaller but greener pastures 20 years ago. Fans in St. Louis are numb after watching the greedy owner, of a habitually bad team, rip away its franchise for the second time in less than 30 years.
As far as blame goes, there’s plenty to sprinkle around. The individuals responsible for bring the Rams to St. Louis and putting forth the single worst lease agreement in the history of sports set this dastardly act in motion more than two decades ago. Many of St. Louis’ elected officials thought the move was a bluff and dragged their feet until the last minute. The St. Louis Rams staff who continually put out a mediocre product on the field since the fall of The Greatest Show on Turf. To find the bulk of the blame though, you just have to follow the bulk of the money. Kroenke and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell rigged the game from the start.
When Kroenke intercepted the club from the outstretched hands of now-Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, Goodell allowed him to skirt the rules of cross-ownership. When Houston Texans owner Bob McNair suggested the NFL was willing to pledge an extra $100 million to the efforts for a new stadium in St. Louis, Goodell swatted the idea away like Dikembe Mutombo. No, no, no. Not today. Goodell claimed that doling out the extra $100 million was against the rules of the NFL.
Despite an overwhelming 5-1 recommendation by the NFL’s relocation committee in favor of the Carson project, Goodell changed the rules to allow for a secret vote. Secret voting is normally only used for selecting a commissioner or choosing what city hosts a Super Bowl. This time, it was likely a result of a secret handshake. If you hadn’t noticed, Goodell and the NFL have a long history of making (and ignoring) rules on the fly.
The proposal for the Rams to move to Inglewood alone was quickly removed from the ballot, however, as it stands today the Rams are the only team set to play in Los Angeles in the 2016-17 season. Chargers owner Dean Spanos, who has opposed teaming up with Kroenke from the beginning is now forced to decide whether to utilize his first rights of refusal to share the Inglewood stadium, crawl back to San Diego in attempts to make another stadium deal or look elsewhere. Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis was designated as the side chick of the whole ordeal. The Raiders can move to Inglewood only if Spanos tells Kroenke to go fly a kite.
In another shocking rule change, the league decided to award both the Raiders and Chargers $100 million in hush money for their troubles. Meanwhile the St. Louis NFL Stadium Task Force, Gov. Jay Nixon and Mayor Francis Slay were all left with egg on their faces. Despite the region coming up with at least $400 million for a new stadium, St. Louis was left with nothing but a crappy stadium that’s yet to be paid off.
While most local NFL fans will lament losing the team, most will bid good riddance to Kroenke. He routinely scoffed his nose at the city, fans, elected officials and anything that had to do with St. Louis. In a final parting shot, his application for relocation dissed the town and included various lies and misrepresentations of the region. Had the owners rejected his plan, it would have made for an awkward return.
Kroenke’s 298-acre site calls for a new West Coast campus for NFL Network, NFL digital ventures and NFL.com. It’s a bigger, more expensive and splashier venue. Kroenke’s deep pockets blinded the commissioner and the league’s other owners. With all the money and grandeur dangled in their eyes, they forgot that (rumors have it) Kroenke is not a particularly well-liked owner due to his style of business. At the end of the day, as it often happens in America, big bank takes little bank.
During the final hour, when it was clear Kroenke and his billionaire BFF Jerry Jones had succeeded in swindling St. Louis out of a team, a friend asked which team I would support now that the Rams were leaving. I chuckled. Not a single one. Sensing the end was near, I already began my own personal boycott of the NFL playoffs by passing on all round one activities. Now that the Rams are officially gone, my interest in NFL football is lower than Nick Foles’ QB rating. If anybody has any good Netflix recommendations, please send them my way. There’s never anything good to watch on television during the Super Bowl.
Follow Ishmael and In the Clutch on Twitter @IshmaelSistrunk
