Pounds. Dollars. No matter what currency you reference, that’s a whole lot of coin the 32 team owners can’t ignore.
So, what about the fans both in the States and the British Isles?
A majority of NFL fans here don’t like the idea of putting a team in London because of travel logistics and the idea that it would be similar to out-sourcing American jobs to foreign countries.
Tom Bateman, director of Bring Back the Los Angeles Rams, traveled to London in 2012 to watch the St. Louis Rams play the New England Patriots. courtesy: Tom Bateman
While there, Bateman spoke with British fans he discovered enjoy American football immensely but think the idea of putting a team in London permanently is a silly one.
I agree with the Brits. If a team is moved or an expansion team is awarded to London, would the league’s name be changed to the International Football League?
“Part of the appeal to the Brits is that each (International Series) game showcases different teams” said Bateman who added, “The NFL in the UK is a spectacle as much as it is a sport. Probably more so.”
British tailgaters “dressed to kilt” at the 2012 NFL International Series Game between the St. Louis Rams and New England Patriots played at Wembley Stadium in London. courtesy: Tom Bateman
He also discovered an NFL game represents everything the British love about America.
According to Bateman the Brits love the fact that we’re a show off nation.
Really, no sport or league shows off more than the NFL.
“It’s flashy, spectacular, the uniforms, the helmets, the cheerleaders, the endzone celebrations, the sack dances, all of that.” Said Bateman continuing, “But as a sport, to the Brits it can’t hold a candle to soccer or as they refer to it, real football.”
An 18-game schedule is something the Players’ Union isn’t too keen on for player safety and the extra two games don’t increase the players’ salaries.
What about a little compromise for all parties involved so the 32 team owners, the players and Britain’s annual economy can capitalize on the projected $255 million the NFL stands to generate should it have a permanent presence in London.
Since the Brits enjoy seeing different teams play each International Series game and the logistics of having a permanent team call London home seem a bit difficult to iron out, let’s give the Brits what they want.
America’s Game – NFL Football – celebrated at Wembley Stadium in London. courtesy: Tom Bateman
At the same time, let’s expand the regular season from 16 to 17 regular season games with the extra game for each team played each week at Wembley Stadium in London.
So what if it’s an odd number schedule. Only thing affected is a team finishing .500 which isn’t a huge deal in the grand playoff scheme of things.
This way, only teams with winning records would qualify for the postseason.
Make the 17th game match ups interconference games – AFC vs. NFC – with the match ups chosen with ping pong ball machines much like the ones used to choose the World Cup soccer groups or the NBA Draft Lottery and do it during Super Bowl Week for games in the upcoming regular season. Cut the pre-season to just two games.
You’ve added a game while having an entire regular season schedule – 16 weeks – in London with the Brits seeing all 32 NFL teams in different match ups each game and year.
It becomes a “pseudo Super Bowl” each week in London because the logistics time wise of having the Super Bowl in London – which has been discussed – just won’t work for NFL fans in the States who want to see the biggest game and spectacle on U.S. soil and rightfully so.
After all, it is America’s Game. Somewhere all 32 teams need to always call home.
The Bring Back the Los Angeles Rams Facebook page has 25,000+ members.
Coming up on 20 seasons without a pro football team, Los Angeles has become a real threat to some other cities that have NFL teams with serious enough stadium issues that they could lose their team to the City of Angels very soon.
And they’re worried. Well. One city really is.
It’s a real enough threat now to three cities in particular – St. Louis, Oakland and San Diego – because no longer can Los Angeles be used by other cities as leverage by team owners in these cities to pony up a large ransom to build them a stadium on the tax-payers’ dime.
That’s because in every NFL city you look at – excluding St. Louis, Oakland and San Diego – they’ve all got a new stadium, are building a new stadium or are up-grading their current stadium.
The Raiders are looking to stay in Oakland wanting some sort of stadium upgrade where their current home stands now or maybe even sharing the new Levi Stadium in Santa Clara with the San Francisco 49ers. That’s all pending.
Meanwhile, the Chargers – who have been able to leave San Diego for a decade now – still want to hash out a stadium deal somewhere in San Diego – a city the NFL doesn’t want to lose. That’s all pending too.
So, that leaves St. Louis – currently home to the Rams, the team that called Los Angeles/So. Cal. home for 49 years prior to bolting for the Midwest in 1995.
There’s quite a social media struggle between Rams fans from both cities that, sometimes, gets downright ugly.
Rams owner Stan Kroenke – a Missouri native who, the St. Louis partisans like to point out, was named after St. Louis Cardinal baseball greats Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter – has been quiet either way about what’s going to happen after the 2014 season.
The end of next season is significant because Gerogia Frontiere and John Shaw, the owner and general manager respectively of the then-Los Angeles Rams who moved the team to St. Louis in 1995, negotiated a “sweetheart lease” when they moved to the Midwest that said if after 10 and then 20 years the Edward Jones Dome isn’t in the top 25% of all NFL stadiums, the Rams become a free-agent able to stay or go where they want.
“Sweetheart lease.” YES. For the Rams. Not so much for the city of St. Louis.
Back in the early 90s St. Louis had to get a team at any cost because it was believed the Gateway City would be awarded one of two expansion franchises with the other going to Charlotte.
The Dome was being built for the expansion St. Louis Stallions when a funny thing happened on the way to the Gateway to the West. The NFL awarded that franchise to Jacksonville Florida instead of St. Louis.
St. Louis was getting all dressed up with nowhere to go as the saying goes.
Until St. Louis advertising exec and Busch family member James Orthwein came to the rescue. He bought the New England Patriots from Victor Kiam in 1992 and planned to move them to St. Louis after the 1993 season to play in the Dome.
Problem is Robert Kraft stepped in. He owned old Foxboro Stadium and wouldn’t let Orthwein out of the stadium lease. So, he sold the team to Kraft. The rest there is history.
Luckily for St. Louis, Georgia and John were still looking for the best deal they could get first looking to Baltimore which was without a team since the Colts left for Indy in 1984.
Anaheim – or Los Angeles – wasn’t about to spend any tax-payer money to build or remodel stadiums (the Big A & Coliseum) each city still believed was NFL-suitable. So, the Rams bolted from Anaheim at the same time Al Davis took his Raiders out of the L.A. Coliseum and back to Oakland – the Raiders’ original home.
That’s when St. Louis stepped in and bent over backwards (desperate after the football Cardinals left seven years earlier for Phoenix after Bill Bidwell wasn’t getting, ironically, a new stadium), giving the Rams anything they wanted just so that dome they built for the Stallions and then the Patriots wouldn’t be empty.
Those red seats in the Dome now…….they were put in with the thought that the Patriots were going to be the team.
Those red seats were almost deal breakers for Georgia who wanted blue seats. Of course, St. Louis worked some sort of other compromise – added to all the others – in that “sweetheart lease” and those red seats stayed and the Rams moved in.
I happen to believe both cities should be represented by an NFL team.
If I have to choose between the two, I’ll pick Los Angeles because that’s where I’m from and I’m one of millions that’s been part of its great NFL heritage.
The late Merlin Olsen (74) and late Deacon Jones (75) are part of the Rams 49-year heritage in Los Angeles. thanx: AP
A heritage lost – not because the Rams weren’t supported here because, again, they did call Los Angeles/So. Cal. home for 49 years prior to bolting for the Midwest – but because there was no new stadium or an agreement to upgrade existing stadiums in the L.A./Orange County areas.
That’s it.
Had the Rams not been supported in Los Angeles, stands to reason they would have left after year five in 1950 and not waited until year 49 in 1995.
I can’t speak about St. Louis because I’ve never been there. So, I’ll refrain from commenting about the Gateway City – good or bad – because I just don’t know much about St. Louis.
Here’s what I know about some media types and football fans in St. Louis. When they speak about Los Angeles, they have no idea what they’re talking about.
To defend their city, they make the argument that Los Angeles has failed as an NFL city because it’s had three chances to succeed but couldn’t since the Rams, Raiders and the AFL Los Angeles Chargers all left “due to the lack of fan support.”
Sorry, St. Louis. You’re wrong.
See five paragraphs above. Or better yet, click on the video-link to hear from one of the TV voices of the NFL, Al Michaels. I asked him about….well…..just listen.
So, stop using the “L.A. can’t support an NFL team” card, St. Louis. That’s not a reason. It’s an excuse. That goes for anyone, anywhere that’s used that excuse about L.A.
A downright lie.
I have no idea – nor does anyone, anywhere, in any city especially in St. Louis and Los Angeles – what Stanley Enos Kroenke will do after the 2014 season because he hasn’t said anything either way.
What I do know is Stanley Enos Kroenke – the St. Louis native – made a strong bid to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers two years ago and has a home in Malibu.
What does that mean? Probably as much as Stanley Enos Kroenke being named after St. Louis baseball Cardinal legends Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter.
Not much.
What speaks volumes is the NFL is staying out of it at the moment. Commissioner Roger Goodell isn’t flying to St. Louis to speak to the STL government entities – like he did in Minneapolis to save the Vikings from moving out west – to save the Rams from moving out west.
And Stanley Enos Kroenke is living by the letter of the law on that “sweetheart lease” negotiated way back when by John Shaw and a desperate City of St. Louis to put a team in the Dome they originally thought would be for the Stallions.
Seems it’s a 50-50 proposition.
Los Angeles has Farmers Field ready to be built by AEG as soon as a team says we want to move to L.A.
Surely. no city government anywhere in the world – let alone this country – would commit millions and millions, even billions, of dollars to build a stadium without securing a team to play in it first, right?
Well. Maybe one.
Oops. Sorry, St. Louis. Does that hit too close to home or hit you below the proverbial belt?
Los Angeles, its government and her tax-payers aren’t that stupid.
Oops. Sorry again, St. Louis.
St. Louis still has the Rams playing in the outdated EJD and with the hopes Stanley Enos Kroenke will, at the last minute, pay for a new billion dollar stadium out of his own pocket to be built in a place called Fenton or the Bottle District.
But all’s quiet on all fronts until the 2014 season has been played out per that “sweetheart lease.”
Former L.A. Rams running back Eric Dickerson (rt) and former Bears running back Gale Sayers (lt) at the Deacon Jones Memorial Service at the L.A. Coliseum last Summer.
Some St. Louis “bloggers” also like to cite a five-year old comment by former Los Angeles Rams hall-of-fame running back Eric Dickerson saying Los Angeles doesn’t deserve a team. You’d say that too if you still felt some resentment towards Georgia and John Shaw if you had been underpaid telling your coach to run “47-gap” himself.
Of course, he’s since retracted those comments and has said many times – including on the NFL Network – Los Angeles needs to have a team.
Although he played for three other teams after being traded from the Rams in 1987, two years ago Eric told me he’s a Ram for life no matter where they call home.
Then, after discussing the Rams are one of the teams that could possibly move to Los Angeles, I asked him what that would mean to him and the rest of the ex-Los Angeles Rams players.
He said….well…….click on the video-link to hear from Eric……
So, St. Louis, stop using the “Eric Dickerson doesn’t think L.A. deserves a team” card. It simply isn’t a reason. It simply isn’t true.
As I said earlier, I think both cities should be home to NFL teams.
No one cared about St. Louis when the Cardinals left. No one cared about Los Angeles when the Rams and Raiders left at the same time.
No one’s going to care either way – except for those in St. Louis and Los Angeles – when something’s done with the Rams once that “sweetheart lease” runs its course after 2014.
But those “bloggers/writers/journalists” from St. Louis at some point have to admit there’s a possibility the Rams could leave for Los Angeles after 2014 just like I admit that Stanley Enos Kroenke could pull a billion-dollar rabbit out of his hat with help from the NFL’s G-4 LOAN –which is a loan to be repaid by somebody (tax-payers) – to build a stadium somewhere in Fenton or the Bottle District.
Where ever those places are.
But let’s stop using the “L.A. never supported the NFL” card and the “Eric Dickerson doesn’t think L.A. deserves a team” card.
Both are simply not true. Playing those cards you look as stupid as a city committing millions and millions, even billions, of dollars to build a football stadium before securing a team to play in it.
Oops. Sorry again, St. Louis.
What is true is that St. Louis football fans and St. Louis “journalists” are very worried.
Until after the 2014 NFL season everyone!!
Enjoy the remainder of that “sweetheart lease,” St. Louis!
Let me immediately debunk a serious cliché, untruth and down-right lie in regards to WE Angelenos.
It states, “WE WON’T SUPPORT and NEVER HAVE SUPPORTED an NFL team in Los Angeles because there are just too many other things to do here on a Sunday afternoon.”
This clichéd rhetoric is old, tired, ignorant and completely false.
It’s a complete insult to all of US Angelenos.
Seriously!
Looking at L.A. from atop the Hollywood Sign.
Los Angeles, the second largest market in the country, home to Hollywood, a pair of MLB teams (Dodgers & Angels), a pair of NBA teams (Lakers & Clippers…and maybe the Anaheim Royals soon.), a pair of NHL teams (Kings & Ducks) a pair of major division one universities (USC & UCLA) and a pair of MLS teams (Galaxy & Chivas USA) isn’t called the entertainment capital of the world for nothing. And although a sport, football, which includes the NFL variety, is one of the greatest forms of entertainment known to man, woman and child.
Beginning in 1946, after their move from Cleveland because they couldn’t compete with the Browns, the Los Angeles Rams called Southern California home for 49 years. The first 34 at the 100,000 seat L.A. Memorial Coliseum and the last 15 at Anaheim Stadium before moving to the Midwest in 1995.
49 YEARS!
Had the Rams not been supported by WE Angelenos throughout that half-century, you figure they would have left after year five.
The Rams called the Coliseum home from 1946 to '79.
During a 13 year period in the modern Super Bowl era from 1967 to 1979, the Rams won nine division titles, seven of those in consecutive seasons, played in seven conference championship games and one Super Bowl all the while attracting crowds at the Coliseum in excess of 65,000 to over 70,000 every Sunday afternoon.
In my interview with Hall-of-Fame defensive end Jack Youngblood and tight end Bob Klein, stars for the Rams during those years, both told me they fed off the energy of those Coliseum crowds. Fans that are still devoted to them today.
Ex-Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom with a model of the Football-enclosed Anaheim Stadium.
Former L.A. Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloomleft L.A. for Anaheim in ’79 because the Coliseum Commission and L.A. politicians wouldn’t fork over taxpayer dollars to upgrade the Coliseum. Anaheim DID enclosing the Big “A” without its then-primary tenant, the California Angels, reaping any benefits whatsoever, so it could gain elite status as a city that an NFL team called home.
That changed in the early 90s when Georgia Frontiere wanted upgrades to the Big A via public funding. Anaheim said not this time. Off the Rams went to St. Louis.
It’s why Al Davis moved the Raiders to L.A. from Oakland in 1982 and then back to Oakland in ‘95. ‘84 when Bob Irsay moved the Colts from Baltimore for Indianapolis. ‘87 when Bill Bidwell moved the Cardinals from St. Louis to Phoenix. ’95 when Frontiere moved the Rams to St. Louis from Anaheim. ‘96 when Art Modell moved the Browns from Cleveland to Baltimore. ’97 when Bud Adams moved the Oilers to Tennessee from Houston.
These owners didn’t pack up their teams and leave their former cities because of the lack of fan support. It always has been and will be about stadium upgrade issues.
PERIOD.
San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium is one of the 3 most outdated stadiums in the NFL.
Not coincidentally, the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders are on the possible relocation list because they play in two of the three most outdated stadiums in the NFL. The San Francisco 49ers were on the list playing in the third.
The 49ers new stadium in Santa Clara is scheduled to open in 2014.
The 49ers will be playing in a brand new $1.2 billion facility within the next couple of years in Santa Clara. A building privately funded with the 49ers borrowing $400 million. The Santa Clara Stadium Authority borrowing $450 million. $150 million from the league’s stadium fund. $40 million from the Santa Clara City Redevelopment Agency with the final $35 million coming from a hotel tax paid by tourists and visitors to the city.
I bring these three teams up because, if you include the L.A. Coliseum and Pasadena Rose Bowl, California has the five most archaic “NFL-ready” stadiums. Anaheim Stadium’s out of play because it’s now a baseball-only stadium if you don’t count a high school gridiron clash or two.
California’s citizens and its government entities won’t consider stadium plans of any sort to be publicly-funded using taxpayer dollars. Especially in these tough economic times. We’re absolutely right not to.
That’s why the state is home to the five most archaic “NFL-ready” stadiums in the country.
This is the ONLY reason why Los Angeles hasn’t been a part of the NFL for 17 seasons and counting.
AEG is targeting a 2017 grand opening of Farmers Field in Los Angeles.
This “extended road-trip” Los Angeles has endured could be coming to an end soon with not just one, but possibly two teams, from the list relocating here.
"Tailgating L.A. Style." An artist's rendition of Chick Hearn Court on Game-Day Sunday. Nokia Theatre and restaurants on the right. Staples Center in the left foreground. Farmers Field in left background.
Upon releasing the 10,000 page EIR earlier this month on the steps of L.A.‘s City Hall, point-man Tim Leiweke addressed AEG’s vision for the return of the NFL to the City of Angels.
A team could be calling L.A. home in September of 2013 playing its home games at the Coliseum until Farmers Field is completed by 2017.
As for which team it will be. Take a look at the aforementioned list. The Rams (if any team should call L.A. home, it should be the Rams.) and the Vikings are the top two candidates for various reasons. Who will it be?
It’s going to happen. L.A. will be back in the NFL and the NFL will be back in Los Angeles. From any angle, it’s quite overdue.
Yes. There are plenty of things to do on a Sunday afternoon in the City of Angels, one of the greatest cities in the world, and the NFL should and will be one of them.
Photo courtesy: Eric Geller, AEG, Farmers Field, Los Angeles Times, stadiumsofprofootball.com, USA Today.
Where does Los Angeles, locked out by the NFL for some 17 years since both the Rams and Raiders left after the 1994 season, fit in this proposed 10 year collective bargaining agreement? Last week, ESPN‘s Chris Mortensen reported there is a provision in the new proposed deal that puts L.A. back in the NFL mix:
Under the proposed 10-year CBA, players would get a split ranging from 48 to 46.5 percent of a simplified all-revenue model, the sources said. The lower 46.5 percentage would represent an increase in total dollars as revenues grow from new television contracts, as well as allowing credits if three new stadiums are constructed, including one in Los Angeles, where the NFL has not had a team since the 1994 season.
We’ve put our teams together. It doesn’t mean we’re going to find the right deal that fits for both teams, but we’re certainly going to get a look at those options.
Trask said the Raiders really like the idea of the stadium partnership adding:
We have said repeatedly that we have an open mind with respect to our stadium solution. An open mind means an open mind as to sharing a facility with the 49ers. I say to Jed regularly that we should have not only an open mind to the sharing of the facility, but to the location of the facility which we might share.
Emceeing the NFL 101 Event was Emmy winning NFL on NBC and HBO Sports Correspondent Andrea Kremer. With the lockout nearing its end, I asked Kremer where Los Angeles fits in the new deal. (I should mention, please excuse the camera angle. When you’re “one-man banding” and your subject decides to, unknowingly, move a bit out of frame adjusting while holding a conversation becomes a 50-50 proposition.):
Interestingly enough, Thursday, AEG President Tim Leiweke said his company is ready to buyout an existing teams current stadium lease to get them to relocate to the City of Angels. AEG is prepared to own at least 50% of that team if it helps the current owner in the buyout of the existing stadium lease. Again, the Chargers and the Rams are in situations with their current stadiums leases which fit such a scenario.
Expect something to happen soon because the 50th Super Bowl is five years away. The first Super Bowl was played at the L.A. Coliseum. Indianapolis Colts Owner Jim Irsay is pushing for the Golden Anniversary Game, Super Bowl “L”, to be played in L.A.
Los Angeles…..your 17 year NFL Lockout is coming to end.
Remember, use my picks to wager $$$ at your own risk. If you lose, I had nothing to do with it. If you win beaucoup $$$, a 10% tip would be cool. But, I’m realistic. This is just for your entertainment…or not, and for me to keep my sports “mojo” going until “I’m back in the saddle”. Remember the league’s unofficial motto…“ON ANY GIVEN SUNDAY, MONDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY OR SATURDAY“…………
NFL WEEK 9
TAMPA BAY (5-2) +8.5 @ ATLANTA (5-2) O/U 44.5 pts
-NFC South showdown and New Orleans isn’t in this one. Bucs QB Josh Freeman’s won eight games, six late in the fourth quarter. Falcons tough at home and coming off of a bye. FALCONS (27-21, FALCONS)
CHICAGO (4-3) -3 vs. BUFFALO (0-7) @ TORONTO 40.5 pts
-The Bills are much better than their record having lost their last two in overtime. The Bears offensive line can’t protect QB Jay Cutler. Bills add “Lights Out” LB Shawn Merriman who was waived by San Diego earlier this week. Buffalo gets its first win……………in Toronto. BILLS (22-19, BEARS)
NEW ENGLAND (6-1) -4 @ CLEVELAND (2-5) 43.5 pts
-Browns coming off a shocker beating the World Champs in the Big Easy, 30-13. Browns whistle-blower Eric Mangini trying to get the upper-hand on his former boss, Bill Belichick. Patriots with the league’s best record playing like they did for their Super Bowl runs with QB Tom Brady driving them home. PATRIOTS (34-14, BROWNS)
NY JETS of NEW JERSEY (5-2) -4.5 @ DETROIT (2-5) 41 pts
-Jets surprisingly grounded last week in Jersey by Green Bay working the 9-0 shutout. Lions getting their second win of the season beating Washington last week. It’ll be tough with Matthew Stafford back at QB for Detroit. NY/New Jersey rebounds behind QB Mark Sanchez and RB LaDanian Tomlinson. JETS (23-20, JETS)
NEW ORLEANS (5-3) -6.5 @ CAROLINA (1-6) 40.5 pts
-New Orleans making a statement with last week’s win over Pittsburgh. In Carolina before the Big Easy Bye Week. Saints looking to grab a share of the NFC South lead with a win. Panthers are just terrible. SAINTS (34-3, SAINTS)
ARIZONA (3-4) +8.5 @ MINNESOTA (2-5) 41 pts
-Vikings coach Brad Childress feeling the heat after waiving WR Randy Moss just three weeks after trading a third round draft pick to New England for him. All this without telling the Vikes owner! Then, Childress gets into it with WR Sidney Rice during practice. Good thing QB Brett Favre can still play. He’s the Energizer Bunny……taking a hit and keeps on ticking. Last week, smacked in the chin requiring ten stitches in the loss at New England. Vikes still have RB Adrian Peterson too. Cardinals going back to QB Derek Anderson after Max Hall didn’t work out. Vikings still better. VIKINGS (27-24, VIKINGS)
MIAMI (4-3) +5 @ BALTIMORE (5-2) 40.5 pts
-Something you don’t see to often. Miami undefeated on the road and winless at home. Baltimore coming off a bye week and well rested. Running games will dominate in this one setting up play-action for both Dolphins QB Chad Henne and the Ravens Joe Flacco. RAVENS (26-10, RAVENS)
SAN DIEGO (3-5) -3 @ HOUSTON (4-3) 50.5 pts
-Statistically, the Chargers have the league’s top-rated offense and defense. Problem is San Diego’s lost three games because of pathetic special teams miscues. Going into Houston, Bolts QB Phillip Rivers must be salivating because the Texans defense is the worst in the league. Bolts can pressure Houston QB Matt Schaub, containing WR Andre Johnson and let RB Arian Foster try to beat them. CHARGERS (29-23, CHARGERS)
NY GIANTS of NEW JERSEY (5-2) -6.5 @ SEATTLE (4-3) 41 pts
-Battle of division leaders in the Emerald City. The Giants are the Giants. Running the football well, QB Eli Manning feeding off his running game and the NY/New Jersey defense stopping the oppositions offense. Seahawks might be the worst division leader in the league. They’ll be without QB Matt Hasselbeck who’s out with a concussion after getting knocked around by the Raiders, 33-3. Charlie Whitehurst takes over. “The 12th Man”, a.k.a Seahawks fans, will be loud. Not enough. GIANTS (41-7, GIANTS)
INDIANAPOLIS (5-2) +3 @ PHILADELPHIA (4-3) 46.5 pts
-Michael Vick’s back at QB for the Eagles and will present problems for the Colts defense because he can take off with the pill. DE’s Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney will be breathing heavy. Colts have this guy named Peyton Manning at QB. Stop him if you can, Philly. COLTS (26-24, EAGLES)
KANSAS CITY (5-2) +2.5 @ OAKLAND (4-4) 40.5 pts
-Looks like the heated AFL/NFL rivalry is back!!! Seems the “Swagger’s Back for the Silver & Black.”
Well, maybe not with that much…..um…..romance? Both teams learning to win and playing well. Raiders scored 59 two weeks ago in Denver and put up 33 last week on Seattle. Oakland’s looking for its first three-game winning streak since 2002 when they went to the Super Bowl. Chiefs have won eight straight AT Oakland. That streak ends. RAIDERS (23-20, RAIDERS)
DALLAS (1-6) +7.5 @ GREEN BAY (5-3) 45.5 pts (SNF)
-No ICE BOWL drama in this one.
Dallas playing for pride, if it has any left after falling at home to Jacksonville last week. Banged-up Packers worked a 9-0 shut-out beating the Jets in Jersey last week. PACKERS (45-7, PACKERS)
PITTSBURGH (5-2) -5.5 @ CINCINNATI (2-5) 41 pts (MNF)
-Last year, Bengals supplanted the Steelers as AFC North Champs during a Pittsburgh five-game skid. Steelers looking to return the favor trying to extend Cincy’s current four-game skid. Too much talent on the Bengals roster for that. Some pride from QB Carson Palmer, WR’s T.O. and Ocho-Cinco and RB Cedric Benson. It’ll be tough against Big Ben and Big Troy. BENGALS (27-21, STEELERS)
BYE WEEKS:
DENVER (2-6)
TENNESSEE (5-3)
ST. LOUIS (4-4)
SAN FRANCISCO (2-6)
WASHINGTON (4-4)
JACKSONVILLE (4-4)
*LOS ANGELES (15 yrs, 9 weeks)
*The AEG Downtown Los Angeles Retractable Roof Billion Dollar Stadium gaining some momentum. AEG’s Tim Leiweke says the stadium can be built in time for the Super Bowl’s Golden Anniversary (50th or “L”). Remember, Super Bowl I was played at the L.A. Coliseum with Green Bay Beating Kansas City.
It would be a TRAVESTY if SBL was played anywhere BUT in Los Angeles.
I don’t want to get too excited about the Rams returning to Los Angeles because I really don’t like to count my proverbial chickens before they hatch and find myself with bitter disappointment.
But………Can it be? Are the Moons aligning? In the names of Merlin, Youngblood, Deacon, Crazy Legs and Roman, are the Rams beginning the process of moving back to Los Angeles?
At the moment, all signs seem to be pointing in that very direction.
Published reports from St. Louis and Los Angeles are abuzz with stories regarding the sale of the Rams and two possible sites in the greater Los Angeles area for a state-of-the-art NFL stadium.
Rams minority owner Stan Kroenke wants full control of the franchise and is looking to purchase it from Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez. At issue, Kroenke owns the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. The NFL has rules against cross-ownership of teams in other major U.S. sports leagues. Kroenke seems to be able to clear such hurdles by signing over controlling interests of his other major sports teams to other family members.
Kroenke, also, seems to be working with L.A. sports & entertainment big-wigs to get them back where they belong, LOS ANGELES.
Earlier this week, St. Louis Globe-Democrat columnist Howard Balzer wrote:
It turns out Kroenke is a member of the league’s Los Angeles Stadium Working Group committee. Roll that one around in your mind a few minutes. Everyone I mentioned that to Thursday was silent for a few seconds, and then said, “Oh, my God.”
It means Kroenke is privy to every detail, every plan, simply everything that is related to those trying to get a stadium built there.
Then on Thursday, Los Angeles Times columnist Sam Farmer wrote that businessmen Casey Wasserman, who owned the L.A. Avengers of the defunct Arena Football League, and AEG’s Tim Leiweke are considering a plan to build a privately funded stadium behind the Staples Center where the West Hall of the Convention Center currently sits. They tried this about eight years ago, but they backed out when the Coliseum Commission tried to make its own bid that, also, failed.
In a follow-up article from Saturday’s L.A. Times, Farmer added Wasserman and Leiweke want the proposed $1 billion stadium to have a retractable roof for use year round for a number of other events.
The Coliseum Commission isn’t a factor any longer because it’s locked in with USC which has rights of first refusal because the Trojans football team is the Coliseum’s major tenant.
The stadium would complete the L.A. Live entertainment corridor that was envisioned by AEG when the Staples Center was first built. Of course, the stadium proposal would need to be approved by the City of Los Angeles because the convention center is owned by the city.
In the article, Farmer added:
What’s more, the downtown bid would put Wasserman and Leiweke in direct competition with developer Ed Roski, who already has an entitled and shovel-ready piece of land in City of Industry to build a football stadium. There is only room for one such project in the L.A. area, and the Industry group is at least a year ahead of any other because it has clearance to build.
Another problem exists with the NFL. The current collective bargaining agreement ends after next season. The league is trying to avoid a labor dispute and subsequent work-stoppage in 2011.
The sticking point, team owners want the players to help in paying off the huge stadium costs.
The new CBA will take at least a year to negotiate which means no stadium will be built or team will re-locate while the NFL takes care of its CBA. That’ll give Wasserman and Lewieke a year to catch up with Roski.
When the time comes, I think these two competing stadium teams might want to join forces and work together on one site to benefit the greater Los Angeles Area, the NFL, maybe the Rams, and, first and foremost, the long suffering Los Angeles Rams fans.
The Rams called Los Angeles home for 49 years before (gulp) Georgia Frontiere moved them to St. Louis in 1994 claiming Los Angeles wouldn’t support them because there was too much to do in Southern California other than watch football.
I said it then and I’ll say it now. HELLO! 49 YEARS! Needless to say, Georgia pulled a “Major League” getting a sweet money deal in St. Louis while still residing in Bel-Air.
The City of Angels could soon be celebrating the Rams 50th Anniversary in Los Angeles (16 years, and counting, in the making) with St. Louis losing its second NFL franchise. That doesn’t have to happen.
Here’s a thought. When the Rams move back to Los Angeles, how about moving the struggling Jacksonville Jaguars to St. Louis and re-naming them the Stallions. Wasn’t that the idea when the league expanded 16 years ago anyway?
As far as a second team in the new Los Angeles Stadium. Do you really think Chargers owner Alex Spanos will sit put in San Diego and play in an aging Qualcomm Stadium when he can move his team into a state-of-the-art play-pen back in its original home just up Interstate 5?
On Any Given Sports Day 