Just Jack Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 It may happen.... http://www.latimes.com/sports/football/nfl/la-sp-nfl-la-rams-20140131,0,3805682.story#axzz2rz9CedLE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Unlikely, from this purchase. It's a very shrewd, smart move by Kroenke though. There is probably little chance he will lose money and probably will make some, if not a killing. Probably $100 million purchase but there is a huge residential section going there. The thing is, it's a crappy part of town. No one liked going to The Forum when it was there and the Lakers home. It's the real reason that the LA Coliseum is not a viable option. IMO, it's at least as much to get a sweetheart deal out of St Louis as it is a possible move to LA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I wish Kroenke luck trying to play hardball with St Louis in this economy. Wanting already overburdened taxpayers to give in to a billionaire to the tune of $700,000,000.00 to upgrade a football stadium that's less than 20 years old is about as douchy as it gets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I wish Kroenke luck trying to play hardball with St Louis in this economy. Wanting already overburdened taxpayers to give in to a billionaire to the tune of $700,000,000.00 to upgrade a football stadium that's less than 20 years old is about as douchy as it gets. This. Football owner had a point when StL football was played in a poorly designed converted baseball stadium. Rams got their new dome. St Louis has always been a lukewarm football town, even more so after the Cardinals went to 'zona. More into baseball and then hockey from what you see and hear around neighborhoods. I don't think Kroenke gets big public $$$ for a new stadium here, even baseball Cardinals couldn't pull that one off. Funding bill got shot down in flames and the threat of moving stadium to IL side of the river pulled out a finance package of private bonds, bank loans, a long-term loan from St. Louis County, and money from the team owners, that last being the key to making it work. Without the long-term loyalty, StL fans seem sort of fed up with a team that's only been here 18 years, has had a winning record exactly 4 of those 18 years, has been 7 years since going 500 on the season, and a decade without playoffs. Hope was high when Bradford was drafted but has faded since. No, I don't think Kroenke gets a nosh from the public trough for his team in St Louis just now. Win a few years, bring in some playoffs, and he'd have more chance. I didn't realize Kroenke was married to Sam Walton's daughter. No money in that family *snort* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I wish Kroenke luck trying to play hardball with St Louis in this economy. Wanting already overburdened taxpayers to give in to a billionaire to the tune of $700,000,000.00 to upgrade a football stadium that's less than 20 years old is about as douchy as it gets. Yet you know it will work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSE Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I lived in LA for 7 years. The fans won't support anything less then a playoff team. Al Davis found this out the hard way. A huge waste of money IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Yet you know it will work. Not always. Hopefully the public is finally waking up to these stadium scams that only enrich the team owners and corrupt politicians that sign off on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SF Bills Fan Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I hope they go back- they never should've left in the first place. If they don't go back the Raiders will be there very shortly anyway. There's already grumbling here in the bay area with the Niners moving into the new stadium and the Raiders stuck in their old stadium with very little attendance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purple haze Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Unlikely, from this purchase. It's a very shrewd, smart move by Kroenke though. There is probably little chance he will lose money and probably will make some, if not a killing. Probably $100 million purchase but there is a huge residential section going there. The thing is, it's a crappy part of town. No one liked going to The Forum when it was there and the Lakers home. It's the real reason that the LA Coliseum is not a viable option. IMO, it's at least as much to get a sweetheart deal out of St Louis as it is a possible move to LA. Inglewood isn’t so bad actually. It’s different from the area around the Coliseum. Has a large middle class population. Very residential. People didn’t like going to the Forum because it was hard to get to. One has to take the streets there. Or get on the 405 and be backed up waiting to get through the off ramp. The closest 10 fwy off ramp is further away than the 405. And the forum only has 18,000 seats. Imagine a 60+ stadium? I can’t see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 LA is a bargaining chip, but a very effective one at that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agardin Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 (edited) I never want to see a city lose a team but it seems like an NFL team in LA is going to happen sooner or later and another city's team is better than the Bills. Edited February 1, 2014 by agardin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 (edited) Yet you know it will work. Actually, living in St Louis I'm not so sure of that. It didn't work for the much more popular St Louis Cardinals, despite ramming through a state funding bill which was then struck down in 2002 and replaced by a owners-city-state deal where the city and state provided loans and some infrastructure, but the owners built the stadium. "In an era when most sports facilities were built with a vast majority of public subsidies, the Cardinals deal was unusual because it was privately financed and involved so little public money." And that's for the baseball team, in a bleed-red Baseball city. I may just move in the wrong circles, but I've yet to meet a true-blue-and-will-never-stain Rams fan just desperate to keep "our team" in the city like you meet in Buffalo. Football is more something to enjoy, amongst many things to enjoy. Keep in mind the Rams have been in St Louis less than 2 decades and have only had a few winning seasons near the start of that time. Not a great basis for building fantastic fan loyalty. More a basis for "good-bye and don't let the door hitcha on the butt on the way out". Edited February 1, 2014 by Hopeful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yungmack Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Unlikely, from this purchase. It's a very shrewd, smart move by Kroenke though. There is probably little chance he will lose money and probably will make some, if not a killing. Probably $100 million purchase but there is a huge residential section going there. The thing is, it's a crappy part of town. No one liked going to The Forum when it was there and the Lakers home. It's the real reason that the LA Coliseum is not a viable option. IMO, it's at least as much to get a sweetheart deal out of St Louis as it is a possible move to LA. I pretty much agree with your assessment and would also note that Kroenke owns several other properties in the area so the fact that this purchase got all this attention says to me that he's publicizing it as leverage with St. Louis for a new stadium there. The one thing I'd disagree with you is the Coliseum area. In ten years, if not sooner, it will be one of the more desirable areas of the city as "gentrification" continues to move south along Fig. Just today, the LA Times did a story on yet another purchase of a big piece of property in the Staples Center/Convention Center area (the second one this month by Chinese investors). The whole area is under construction, with condos, hotels, etc. The extension of the Expo Line and the Wilshire subway to the ocean in the next few years will accelerate the process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I pretty much agree with your assessment and would also note that Kroenke owns several other properties in the area so the fact that this purchase got all this attention says to me that he's publicizing it as leverage with St. Louis for a new stadium there. The one thing I'd disagree with you is the Coliseum area. In ten years, if not sooner, it will be one of the more desirable areas of the city as "gentrification" continues to move south along Fig. Just today, the LA Times did a story on yet another purchase of a big piece of property in the Staples Center/Convention Center area (the second one this month by Chinese investors). The whole area is under construction, with condos, hotels, etc. The extension of the Expo Line and the Wilshire subway to the ocean in the next few years will accelerate the process. Maybe. IMO, even though it's only about 2.5 miles, there is a world of difference between where the staples center is and where the coliseum is. Maybe 30 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yungmack Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I lived in LA for 7 years. The fans won't support anything less then a playoff team. Al Davis found this out the hard way. A huge waste of money IMO Absolutely false. The Dodgers haven't been to a World Series in over a quarter of century, and were more than mediocre for many of those years, yet led, or were near the top of, MLB attendance all that time (until the last days of Frank). The wretched Lakers continue to be a big draw in spite of Jim Buss and exorbitant ticket prices. And the Raiders had (and still have) a huge following in the area. Any decline they experienced in LA had more to do with the danger in the Coliseum neighborhood in the 80s and 90s (which is massively lower now) and the anarchic conditions inside the stadium that drove the more weak-kneed, like me, to give up there season tickets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ (not THAT RJ) Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Absolutely false. The Dodgers haven't been to a World Series in over a quarter of century, and were more than mediocre for many of those years, yet led, or were near the top of, MLB attendance all that time (until the last days of Frank). The wretched Lakers continue to be a big draw in spite of Jim Buss and exorbitant ticket prices. And the Raiders had (and still have) a huge following in the area. Any decline they experienced in LA had more to do with the danger in the Coliseum neighborhood in the 80s and 90s (which is massively lower now) and the anarchic conditions inside the stadium that drove the more weak-kneed, like me, to give up there season tickets. Not quite. The truth is, most of the teams that moved to LA were already successful--Dodgers, Rams, Lakers, even the Raiders. That's one of the big sources of bitterness about LA using its wealth and appeal to lure away good teams, without building their own from scratch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homey D. Clown Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 the position Ralph Wilson has put the city of Bufflao in by not trying to sell the team to someone that would be dedicated to keeping the team here, I would be more supprised that our team didn't move than anyone else. I know it's really hopeful that other teams seem like a possibility, but nothing makes me feel comfortable anymore, and I really despise ralph wilson for not making some sort of concession about the future of this team. There WILL be a team in LA, this is not about what the fans will support, it's about selling advertising in one of the largest TV markets in the nation. Once you see it for what it is, you'll be able to see why more than one team will play there. Roger Goodell and the NFL could care less about you the measley fan. It's not negativity here, just the truth hidden in plain sight. Do you think that selling LESS tickets to a smaller stadium in toronto had anything to do with expanding the fanbase in any way, shape or form? Please tell me people really don't buy into that steaming pile of **** that russ brandon has been brainwashing you with, it's about canada's largest TV market. That's the bottom line. Kid yourself if you want, bash me if it makes you feel like a tough guy, but the truth is there right in front of you. It makes it harder and harder to enjoy games when the greed has gotten to this level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oman128 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Detroit hasnt won a championship since the 50's, plus the city is broke and can't afford much. The Lions could use a change of scenery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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