^^ San Diego looks like they are in last place. But there is speculation that Davis would prefer to stay in Oakland if a deal can get done and if he buys into the mixed-use plan that is slowly taking shape there that would make things interesting. (NFL doesn't prefer their common sense plan but it is up to Davis.) San Diego can't build its own stadium w/o the Raiders so does the NFL make Kroenke stay here even if that means no LA stadium gets built?
Anyway, for 2016 I bet there are equal chances that nobody moves to LA, just the Rams move, Rams stay but Chargers and Raiders move and Rams and Chargers move and Raiders stay. Take it to the bank!
Chargers are the lead team in the Carson project, the Goldman Sacs rep told the NFL during their presentation that the Carson plan works with just 1 team if that happens to be the case..
Of course Demoff is completely avoiding and dancing around the questions. He is such a politician. It is pathetic that he will not answer the questions. The only thing I hear is that the team is keeping all options open and looking for the best options to grow the fanbase and win championships. Translated, in order to do this, they will need to be in LA. He is now talking like he wants to save face when they move. I have no doubt the Rams will file for relocation after this season. At least he admits the fans have the right and good reasons to be upset and not go to the Dome.
He thinks Stan should talk to the city at some point, then pointed out that he does not talk much anywhere he owns a team.
He also tried to say fan interest is down, specifically referring to the draft, has to do with the Blues playoffs and Cardinals season starting. That is complete BS.
He completely danced around the question, "do the Rams want to be in STL after 2015?" KD completely avoided the question. Total BS answer. Said that is a very complicated question!
He said the NFL should not judge STL on the empty Dome expected in 2015.
The questions were good, the answers were awful. KD had well rehearsed answers. None of which gave us anything new.
101.1 ESPN's interview with KD was awful. It was softball city. Very disappointed in Karraker and Brad Thompson.
Not sure why you would expect him to say anything other then he said...he cant at this point...i mean he said they are working with the Task Force and thats all you can really ask for at this point. Until the Task Force has a plan thats 100% done (its not yet) they cant lose hand in LA since the Chargers are charging hard to Carson.
Every owner in this situation over the years, whether it be Bidwell, Modell, etc, etc, has spoken to the public, faced the wrath of the media and public head on, while that coward Kroenke hides behind his spokesman KD. I think they need to say more. He could make some statements, that do not hurt his negotiating position. I don't care how he is with his other teams. He is not trying to move them purely for money. He is not trying to rip the hearts from fans. STL has been battered enough and this guy is putting everyone through the ringer. He should have the balls to speak to the public. That is my beef with Kroenke. Not that his spokesman talks like a politician. I do think he should be more open. Usually, when you speak like Demoff, you know your intentions and do not want to face the heat. He knows the Rams will do anything to get to LA. I guess he still speaks to the public, in case for some reason, they fail to get to LA. KD blabbing about the draft and how excited he is about on the field stuff is laughable.
Some thoughts on funding. Looks like the state funding is coming together, thanks to Speaker John Diehl. The people's democratically elected representatives have spoken. Dave Peacock said this morning there is no hidden private funding source, and they are essentially using the same formula they started with initially. So I'm not sure what that means for County funding. Would the state consider a special stadium lottery game, as some states have done? You could contribute by buying a stadium lottery ticket, or not.
With respect to St. Louis County funding, I wonder if some other county -- St. Charles or even St. Clair in Illinois would consider providing partial stadium funding in exchange for moving the Rams offices and practice facilities from St. Louis County to their county. I could see a developer in St. Charles including the Rams in some larger development, not unlike the Blues deal with the Mills, but bigger of course.
Single game Rams tickets go on sale starting noon today. With so many home games this year against teams in the Midwest, I could see lots of fans of those teams who live in St. Louis turning out en masse to see their teams, and some folks will travel here from those cities. Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburg, & Cleveland. Tampa, on Thursday Night football Nov 17th, could be the last NFL game here.
The third Rams game against the Steelers is right on top of the last Cardinals regular season game. The 49ers home game is scheduled for the same day as Game 4 of the World Series, if the Cards make it that far (and the NL loses the All-Star game). And the Sunday before that, Oct 25th, the Rams home game with Cleveland could be on the same day as a home playoff baseball game.
While I understand Demoff has to walk the line for Kroenke, not one of these interviews, radio or TV, did anything for the general population and our desire to know the truth. On the flipside, he NOTHING to sell more tickets or convince the fans they should be excited for the draft and training camp. So, in a nutshell, the entire media campaign was useless.
He better be excited about the draft, because no matter where they play next year, the team is still not that close to being a true contender. LA won't fix bad decisions, poor player development, and questionable game plans.
Those poor management decisions are the reason they have sucked for more than a decade. The Rams organization is 100% to blame for ANY lack of support. That poor management is playing to their advantage, unfortunately. After last season, they can get away with portraying us as a bad NFL market, when in fact we are a great NFL and sports market, but we do not like losers that do not make a true effort to win. That is the case in the majority of NFL markets, with the exception of a few outliers.
one thing clear from the Peacock and Demoff media tour is that the NFL has made it clear that this will not be played out in public going forward- even peacock said to begin his interview with Frank that he cant share many details because the NFL does not want him to. and who can blame them, you got a developer in Oakland callling Grubman an idiot after there last meeting.
gary kreie wrote:Single game Rams tickets go on sale starting noon today. With so many home games this year against teams in the Midwest, I could see lots of fans of those teams who live in St. Louis turning out en masse to see their teams, and some folks will travel here from those cities. Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburg, & Cleveland. Tampa, on Thursday Night football Nov 17th, could be the last NFL game here.
I'm surprised they didn't package the Bears and Steelers games into multi-game packs. They same way a few years ago they forced people to buy tickets to two other games in order to get Green Bay Packers tickets.
We are convinced that the city ordinance does not apply to the refinancing plan and the financing plan for the new stadium,” Blitz said. The financing plan calls for a roughly $300 million extension of the bonds used to pay for the Edward Jones Dome. “We are confident that that ordinance does not apply to the refinancing plan because the refinancing plans have been approved by state statute back in 1988, and the state statutes are generally superior and preempt city ordinances,” Blitz said, adding that the issue must be resolved by September to keep the project on schedule.
^ I wonder what'll be easier.... winning a public vote or getting Board of Aldermen on board by September! btw, Blitz said that land acquisition is not nearly as far along as you indicated earlier.... they seem to be making progress on options but looks like there is a lot left.
Peacock said the St. Louis Board of Aldermen will still weight in.
“(The lawsuit) is not to keep it out of the light of day,” Peacock said.
The task force is relying on the Board of Aldermen to enact tax increment financing, a community improvement district or a transportation development district for the stadium site, according to the RSA’s lawsuit, filed earlier this month.
The task force must also quickly assemble land for the new stadium, just north of downtown along the Mississippi River. The task force has said the area is 89 percent vacant.
The RSA, Blitz said, is already assembling land through option agreements. “We will have a good amount (of the land) secured by mid-summer,” Blitz said.
Blitz also said that should private landowners choose not to sell, the RSA has eminent domain powers.
^ thanks for posting that quote... I had read it at Biz Journal but I completely missed the eminent domain part... I was going crazy no media had gotten on top of that before.
dbInSouthCity wrote:you still think there will be a public vote?
^ I never said there will be a public vote.... only that I think that is the best route if they can get a fall vote and if they tried to proceed without a vote there would be legal challenges with an uncertain outcome. Trying to get this cleared up asap is a good thing b/c you want to know one way or the other. As far as the BoA, there is going to be substantial opposition but I suspect it would be approved in the end but also perhaps with more community benefits, etc.
I hope the board of alderman does not support a CID or TIF for this area if this thing is not packaged as a mixed use deal. It would be a total waste of TIF to support a riverfront plan that is just the stadium and parking , hopefully a Laclede Landing TOD would be part of the overall plan. We at least need to make the walk from the riverfront station to the stadium pleasant.
Also, I've read that other cities have used TIF to support TOD, even transit expansions. Seems like St. Louis "the King of TIF" is dropping the ball by not thinking this way, outside of maybe Cortex. Grand Avenue and Laclede Landing seem like perfect candidates for a TOD TIF district and would likely see a boost in development, if it was implemented.
Goodall at the NFL press conf today....
tweets from people at the presser
Goodell significantly more bullish on St. Louis than San Diego keeping a team from moving to L.A.
STL group continuing down a path he considers "very positive."
Goodell says STL stadium group has shown good signs in terms of designating site, various funding sources and design plan.
Adds that ...
stadium plan being put together by St. Louis group "exciting.
Tom Moore @tfmoore · 35m 35 minutes ago
Goodell: In meeting last week there was talk of public vote in fall 2016. In S.D. they've been working on stadium issue 13-14 years
Tom Moore @tfmoore · 37m 37 minutes ago
Goodell: San Diego task force progress is slow. When mayor called me, he said plan would be in place by May.
