NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell didn’t see the new stadium as a viable option and that opened up a vote of league owners which ruled 30-2 in favor of the Rams leaving St. Louis for Los Angeles. The NFL owners denied a bid by the Chargers and Oakland Raiders to build a stadium in Carson. League owners voted Tuesday to allow the St. Louis Rams to move to Los Angeles starting next season.
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If anyone was truly wondering whether or not Los Angeles would care about the return of the National Football League, the answer is a resounding yes.
The Chargers might be headed there, as well.
But loyalty is not always a two-way street, something San Diego fans know better than most.
The Rams can’t begin selling tickets to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum just yet, but the team already has its first deposit. Kroenke says that’s crucial for his project. And that probably had a lot to do with the low attendance figures that the Rams complained about in their relocation application.
BERGMAN: Yesterday, Stan Kroenke said he’s now in talks with the Chargers. “We understand the emotions involved of our fans”. They said the Mission Valley plan would be easier and faster, however.
Now the Rams are heading back to Los Angeles the city they dumped for Anaheim in 1980.
Now don’t get me wrong, I grew up loving the sport of football. Sports Illustrated wrote fewer people went to the Rams last home game than went to a high school football game played in the same stadium 8 days before. As for Johnson, he was one of the first to welcome the Rams back in a series of tweets last week.
“As I have understood things so far, I don’t believe anyone in St. Louis has committed suicide”, he said by phone the other day. “We’re looking forward to moving ahead with this”.
“Los Angeles is home to many displaced fans who are “NFL Sunday Ticket” customers”, said a DirecTV spokesman.
Spanos spoke with both San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Ron Roberts of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors in separate telephone conversations Thursday.
“This has really been excruciating for everyone”, Spanos said. “I think it’s going to take some time to heal after this”.
Kroenke paused. He let cheers from approximately 200 Rams supporters, many wearing blue and yellow throwback jerseys, wash over him. There were objections to the lease from the African American community calling on the Coliseum Commission to require any team playing in this public facility be open to players without regard to race. “America, the world is a possibility for the Raider Nation”.
Raiders then to San Diego. “I’m very happy, very happy”.
So with all this in consideration, I would like to give one piece of simple advice to Stan Kroenke, the owner of the Los Angeles Rams: Just win.
The Warriors are still seen as San Francisco-bound, but they must fend off lawsuits from the Mission Bay Alliance, a well-heeled group that doesn’t want the team’s new arena next door to the UC San Francisco Medical Center campus in Mission Bay.
“They were told “keep working at it. Keep trying, ‘ you know, you guys ‘Throw your hat in the ring”. And the assumption is the Chargers have no compelling reason to stay at this time. It’s a vicious circle, but the bottom line for these owners is just that – who can make the most money in the deal, without giving one hoot about the fans that made them all the money in the first place.
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Nineteen years later, fans of the St. Louis Rams are the latest victims of franchise relocation, and unfortunately, there is no potential expansion team in sight to fill that void. “But we’ll continue to try in those markets and we’ll continue to try to address those issues”.
