In making his attempt to move the Rams, Kroenke has basically thermonuked the city of St. Louis as a metropolitan area.
Too bad he does it for all the wrong reasons: St. Louis is, increasingly, a racist and bigoted shit-hole (which see all the pro-police anti-Ferguson-protestor stuff around the Cardinals fans and all that shit) which needs a serious reality check into the year 1916, much less 2016.
That said, it's clear that one of two things is going to happen for next football season:
1) We will get the Los Angeles Rams back. (This says nothing about getting the LA Raiders or the LA Chargers back as well.)
2) E. Stan Kroenke will no longer be the owner of the St. Louis Rams.
Deadspin and the front of the bid give just a small sample of why Kroenke just took gasoline and a match to every bridge he had in the city of St. Louis:
- "St. Louis lags, and will continue to lag, far behind in the economic drivers that are necessary for sustained success of an NFL franchise. [...] the City of St. Louis ranks near the bottom of all U.S. cities of any size in terms of economic and population growth." Explain how we still have the Green Bay Packers, then. You've done such a poor job, Stan, in creating a marketable franchise, that you appear to limit yourself to St. Louis, and this is what you get as a result.
- One of the headers, in insulting St. Louis' efforts not to bend the taxpayers over for billions for a new palace for E. Stan Kroenke: "St. Louis Is Not A Three Professional Team Market." Are you even sure you want to count the NHL, as far as that's gone down the ladder these days?
- Another: "St. Louis Promised The Rams A First-Tier NFL Stadium For 30 Years" The only way that's possible is to basically give Kroenke not one new stadium, but about three or four! So much so, that another header has said that the city of St. Louis has been in material default of this standard since 2004!
- "San Diego and Oakland Are Substantially Stronger Markets Than The St. Louis Market" Doesn't sound like he just wants the Rams out. He probably wants the Blues and Cardinals out with them!
- And then the kicker: “Any NFL Club that signs on to this proposal [the current riverfront stadium proposal which would bilk $350 million from the taxpayers] will be well on the road to financial ruin, and the League will be harmed.” He's basically telling the NFL to expel St. Louis, one way or the other -- that the NFL would actually be better off FOLDING the Rams and creating a new franchise somewhere else than keeping the Rams in St. Louis, if moving the Rams to LA is not an option.
Deadspin is right. I'm sure that the San Diego and Oakland proposals probably say similar, but the fact is that Kroenke is making sure that he's done in St. Louis.
As of right now, it appears each of the three bids has the votes to block the other two, meaning it is not impossible that NONE of the three teams moves.
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