Sam Farmer of the L.A. Times reported yesterday that St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kronkee is prepared to build his own stadium on the 60 acres of land he purchased in Inglewood, California.
Relocating an NFL team typically requires the approval of 24 owners. However, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports that Kroenke has informed the mayor of Inglewood on multiple occasions that he is willing to move the Rams with or without the required approval.
Kroenke is not believed to have the required 24 votes as of now, but a source with knowledge of the current dynamics in Southern California tells Florio that he eventually persuade enough owners.
Florio’s source added that if Kroenke shows he’s willing to spend the kind of money it would take to get sufficient fan support for the Rams returning to Los Angeles, and no other team provides a realistic alternative plan, he should be able to conjure up the 24 votes he needs.
Jason Cole was told on Monday that Chargers owner Dean Spanos will try to block the Rams from going to Los Angeles. Spanos believes he has the votes to pull this off, so there could be even more hurdles in the way of the Rams ending up L.A.
Should Kroenke make a power play to move the Rams, the NFL could withhold financial assistance and block them from hosting future Super Bowls. There’s even a chance that this situation could eventually lead to a court battle.
The deadline to file the required relocation application has come and gone, which means there won’t be a team relocating to Los Angeles in time for the 2015 season. Although, it’s conceivable that someone could move for the 2016 season.
Temporary venues for an L.A. include the Coliseum and Rose Bowl.
This is a story we’ll be hearing much more about in the coming months.
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Even with one of the worst NFL teams over the last decade the Rams still made money and St. Louis showed it is an NFL city (just look back to the greatest show on turf the city was NFL crazy, the Rams were hotter than the Cardinals). The NFL wants a team in STL and has a team there so it doesn’t make sense to move the Rams, especially with the commitment the city is making with the new stadium. LA definitely needs a team but ripping the Rams out of the Stl just doesn’t make sense (they are part of the fabric of the city at every level). LA needs the Raiders.
Rams belong in Los Angeles and the other greedy owners will go along with this once they’re assured it’ll grease their palms a little too. SD Chargers need to stay put, same with the Oakland Raiders.