Poll: Will the St. Louis Rams Exit Their Lease?
It’s 2012 and looking forward one of the big stories this year will be what happens when the Edward Jones Dome won’t be in the top 25% of all NFL facilities. The lease allows the Rams to exit after the 2014 season if the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission doesn’t keep the facility in the top quarter. It seems universally accepted the dome won’t be in the top quarter and the decision will be made within months. The Rams will be 20 years into a 30 year lease and they will have an out. Will they take the out?
Will the Rams go back to Los Angeles to take up residence in a new football facility planned there?
Los Angeles Stadium at Grand Crossing will be the first stadium built specifically for the NFL in California and will reflect the California lifestyle, with an outdoor environment, ample parking, plenty of room to tailgate, expanding the NFL game-day experience and great views for all fans.
Sitting at the crossroads of four counties, the Los Angeles Stadium will provide access to over 15.5 million people, playing host to 75,000 fans each Sunday. (Source: losangelesfootballstadium.com)
What kind of city would build a football stadium without a team? Oh right, we did that hoping to win an expansion team. The Rams will have the option to become an annual tenant rather than getting locked in for another decade. Frankly, they’d be foolish to agree to another decade.
As an annual tenant they could stay until the new LA stadium is finished. But the Rams isn’t the only team LA might try to lure:
The three teams which used to play in Los Angeles but moved elsewhere (the San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders) have all been rumored to be open to moving back. The Jacksonville Jaguars and the Minnesota Vikings, have also been identified by [stadium developer] Roski and others as possible prime tenants of the new stadium. However, the city of Santa Clara, California has since approved a ballot measure that will allow the 49ers to build a new stadium in Santa Clara, and the Raiders could be allowed to occupy that stadium as well. (Wikipedia)
This is the topic for the poll (right sidebar) this week. Happy New Year!’
– Steve Patterson
FYI LA has a more realistic and by far better stadium project downtown being proposed. Farmers Field is being pushed by the owners of LA Live, the convention center, and the Staples Center. Its pretty much a done deal to get built at this point. (and it’s by far more realistic than the suburban stadium you talk about…)
Just google Farmers Field and you’ll find tons of info.
FYI LA has a more realistic and by far better stadium project downtown being proposed. Farmers Field is being pushed by the owners of LA Live, the convention center, and the Staples Center. Its pretty much a done deal to get built at this point. (and it’s by far more realistic than the suburban stadium you talk about…)
Just google Farmers Field and you’ll find tons of info.
Wow, it certainly is a beautiful stadium
Certainly agree, when a NFL team moves it will be to this stadium and I wouldn’t doubt that a decision will be made in 2012. The question of course, which town is going to lose an NFL team – Jacksonville, Minneapolis/St. Paul, San Diego or St. Louis.
The other California stadium proposal gaining some traction is in the Bay Area, a new stadium in San Jose for the 49er’s and Raiders. This makes sense and would keep the Raiders from moving south.
I really don’t care if they stay or if they leave. I am opposed to using my taxes to fund another stadium. If the voters in Illinois or St. Charles County think it’s a good investment, so be it, but I see many, better uses for St. Louis City & County taxes.
I really don’t care if they stay or if they leave. I am opposed to using my taxes to fund another stadium. If the voters in Illinois or St. Charles County think it’s a good investment, so be it, but I see many, better uses for St. Louis City & County taxes.
Wow, it certainly is a beautiful stadium
I agree Jz. All we don’t need is more pandering to the rich. They want to go….don’t let the Arch hit them on the way out of town!
I agree Jz. All we don’t need is more pandering to the rich. They want to go….don’t let the Arch hit them on the way out of town!
Stan K sends the Rams back to LA and the new owner of the Jax Jaguars who happens to live up the road will move the team to St Louis with some money spent on the dome in return. Stan K has the money and most likely the owner that the NFL wants in LA. It is the most logically comment I have heard coming out of the all sports media out there.
Now, if everybody would come to their senses and agree that the biggest investment that could be made for the immediate area is to tear down the raised section of I-70 and create an at grade Boulevard. Talk about an opportunity to add more developable space around the stadium (the only selling point that can be made to an owner) while truly connecting Lacledes Landing with Downtown/Convention Center/Dome
As far as a new stadium in St. Louis region. I don’t think anybody in their right mind, in the NFL or even in the state of Missouri believe that a new top tier stadium will be built.Â
Stan K sends the Rams back to LA and the new owner of the Jax Jaguars who happens to live up the road will move the team to St Louis with some money spent on the dome in return. Stan K has the money and most likely the owner that the NFL wants in LA. It is the most logically comment I have heard coming out of the all sports media out there.
Now, if everybody would come to their senses and agree that the biggest investment that could be made for the immediate area is to tear down the raised section of I-70 and create an at grade Boulevard. Talk about an opportunity to add more developable space around the stadium (the only selling point that can be made to an owner) while truly connecting Lacledes Landing with Downtown/Convention Center/Dome
As far as a new stadium in St. Louis region. I don’t think anybody in their right mind, in the NFL or even in the state of Missouri believe that a new top tier stadium will be built.
Certainly agree, when a NFL team moves it will be to this stadium and I wouldn’t doubt that a decision will be made in 2012. The question of course, which town is going to lose an NFL team – Jacksonville, Minneapolis/St. Paul, San Diego or St. Louis.
The other California stadium proposal gaining some traction is in the Bay Area, a new stadium in San Jose for the 49er’s and Raiders. This makes sense and would keep the Raiders from moving south.  Â
Given that the Jaguars have a new owner–Shahid Khan, who tried to buy the Rams in 2010–I think they’re staying put for the time being. The NFL will be quite reluctant to admit so soon that adding the Jacksonville Jaguars as an expansion team in 1993, instead of the Saint Louis Stallions, was a poor move on their part. I’d guess that Khan will really give it his best effort for the next 5-10 years to get fan interest in the Jaguars, so while they could be a potential relocation candidate, I don’t think that will be happening right away. I’m ruling Jacksonville out for now.
(By the way, if the Stallions existed now, none of these discussions would be happening. Saint Louis would be behind its own team, Jacksonville would either be a continued relocation threat or a brief home of a CFL team during that league’s mid-1990s expansion into the US. Many of the moves that happened in the 1990s may never have happened.)The Vikings, and the Minnesota legislature, are working hard to get financing lined up for a new stadium in the northern suburbs of Saint Paul. Minneapolis would like to rebuild a stadium where the Metrodome currently stands. There’s too much activity going on in Minnesota to think about the Vikings’ relocation. Minnesota, IMO, is ruled out.Buffalo has been rumored to be a relocation candidate, and chatter about that will most likely happen once their original owner, Ralph Wilson, passes on the team or simply passes on. However, the NFL has been pushing hard on the idea of putting a team in Toronto, and Buffalo would be an ideal candidate to move there. Since Toronto is only 100 miles from Buffalo, most of the current fanbase in western New York could theoretically follow the team. Buffalo is ruled out.What’s left are teams that once called Los Angeles home: San Diego Chargers, Oakland Raiders, and Saint Louis Rams. Oakland’s situation is rather weird, as they could share a stadium in Santa Clara with the 49ers, but complicating matters here is that the Oakland A’s would like to play in a baseball-only stadium. If the A’s get their way, Oakland could share with the 49ers or rebuild their current stadium while playing for a couple years at Cal’s stadium. Now that Al Davis isn’t the owner, I’d expect more stable decisions made by the top brass of the Raiders. Oakland, for various reasons, is ruled out, leaving the Chargers and the Rams. LA could host both teams at either the Crossroads stadium or Farmers Field, and I bet that that NFL would like to have two teams back in Los Angeles.Â
As for Saint Louis, I’d say that their only chance at getting an NFL team–again!–would be to wait and see what happens in Jacksonville. If the new owner of the Jaguars discovers that the NFL’s smallest market isn’t viable and they decide to leave, Saint Louis could be its only option for relocation…and if that does happen, I hope that the team gets renamed, possibly to the Stallions.
Given that the Jaguars have a new owner–Shahid Khan, who tried to buy the Rams in 2010–I think they’re staying put for the time being. The NFL will be quite reluctant to admit so soon that adding the Jacksonville Jaguars as an expansion team in 1993, instead of the Saint Louis Stallions, was a poor move on their part. I’d guess that Khan will really give it his best effort for the next 5-10 years to get fan interest in the Jaguars, so while they could be a potential relocation candidate, I don’t think that will be happening right away. I’m ruling Jacksonville out for now.
(By the way, if the Stallions existed now, none of these discussions would be happening. Saint Louis would be behind its own team, Jacksonville would either be a continued relocation threat or a brief home of a CFL team during that league’s mid-1990s expansion into the US. Many of the moves that happened in the 1990s may never have happened.)The Vikings, and the Minnesota legislature, are working hard to get financing lined up for a new stadium in the northern suburbs of Saint Paul. Minneapolis would like to rebuild a stadium where the Metrodome currently stands. There’s too much activity going on in Minnesota to think about the Vikings’ relocation. Minnesota, IMO, is ruled out.Buffalo has been rumored to be a relocation candidate, and chatter about that will most likely happen once their original owner, Ralph Wilson, passes on the team or simply passes on. However, the NFL has been pushing hard on the idea of putting a team in Toronto, and Buffalo would be an ideal candidate to move there. Since Toronto is only 100 miles from Buffalo, most of the current fanbase in western New York could theoretically follow the team. Buffalo is ruled out.What’s left are teams that once called Los Angeles home: San Diego Chargers, Oakland Raiders, and Saint Louis Rams. Oakland’s situation is rather weird, as they could share a stadium in Santa Clara with the 49ers, but complicating matters here is that the Oakland A’s would like to play in a baseball-only stadium. If the A’s get their way, Oakland could share with the 49ers or rebuild their current stadium while playing for a couple years at Cal’s stadium. Now that Al Davis isn’t the owner, I’d expect more stable decisions made by the top brass of the Raiders. Oakland, for various reasons, is ruled out, leaving the Chargers and the Rams. LA could host both teams at either the Crossroads stadium or Farmers Field, and I bet that that NFL would like to have two teams back in Los Angeles.
As for Saint Louis, I’d say that their only chance at getting an NFL team–again!–would be to wait and see what happens in Jacksonville. If the new owner of the Jaguars discovers that the NFL’s smallest market isn’t viable and they decide to leave, Saint Louis could be its only option for relocation…and if that does happen, I hope that the team gets renamed, possibly to the Stallions.
This is a good article on the Marlins’ new stadium, financed with taxpayers paying 75% of the costs: http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/marlins-stadium-a-model-for-the-rays-8212-at-least-architecturally/1208852  I’d expect similar arguments here . . . .
This is a good article on the Marlins’ new stadium, financed with taxpayers paying 75% of the costs: http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/marlins-stadium-a-model-for-the-rays-8212-at-least-architecturally/1208852 I’d expect similar arguments here . . . .