It is literally amazing to me the rampant speculation regarding the Rams/Chargers/Raiders (RCR) Saga. One minute the NFL isn’t going to stop Silent Stan from bolting for LA, whether they like it or not. The next minute, both stadium proposals are in the tank and the Rams are going nowhere. Grab a cold beverage and come back to the computer, a third scenario graces Twitter and Facebook. In this one, the Rams leave LA for St. Louis and then go back to LA, the Raiders go from LA to Oakland to St. Louis and the Chargers stay in San Diego. It is never ending, and most likely, never based on fact. The situation has turned into a debacle for Kroenke, the NFL and St. Louis sports fans. As my good friend Jeremy Karp wrote here, the RCR Saga has more layers than a Mexican party appetizer.
The NFL has managed to create another talking point for the talking heads during their “off season” other than the upcoming NFL draft. The NFL Draft doesn’t have as much speculation as the RCR Saga. As the saying goes, “Don’t tell me about the pregnancy, show me the baby!” I am not going to take that saying prima facie, but close. More like, “Dont tell me about all 10 months of pregnancy, maybe just when you’re pregnant, the last 2 weeks…and then show me the baby!” Much like the oodles and gobbs mock drafts from the same writer or talking head without new information, websites and TV stations change their positions almost daily to insure maximum exposure and clicks. With these owner meetings now concluded, some actual news surfaced, as Jeremy astutely scribed in the above link.
We are reasonable people, you and I. We follow the rules others make for us, with a little fuss now and then. A speeding ticket is inconvenient and expensive. Our boss is on us like a pit bull on a poodle, and the house is a mess. We use sports, and particularly the NFL, to escape our mostly mundane lives for a mini vacation. We are reasonable. We understand the rules, although we may not like them. Just think if you or I could just decide, you know what, I don’t like the rules. And, since I wrote them, I am going to change them to give me the most benefit possible monetarily and socially. I will write them so vaguely so that they are up for interpretation. When you have more money than you literally know what to do with, you buy NFL franchises and break the rules because they don’t apply to you. You are above them. Perched on the precipice of perfection and wealth, the world is your oyster.
The NFL has a major problem on their hands. Potentially. If the city of St. Louis can indeed get their financial ducks in a row, and finance the beautiful proposed riverfront stadium, the Rams can’t leave, can they? Stan Kroenke can’t just pack up and leave in the cover of darkness, can he? They sure can, and he sure as hell can. They and he can do whatever they please. The rules, their rules, only apply when they say they do. That’s the nature of writing the rules when they pertain to you. You, they and he, can just rewrite them on a whim to satisfy their own own ego and pipe dreams. They and he aren’t reasonable entities. They are ATM’s that can print money in either Missouri or California. The rules are what they say they are, unfortunately.
The whole Rams-to-LA-and-the-Raiders-to-St. Louis thing is unsettling and mind-boggling. That scenario doesn’t even seem plausible to a reasonable person. But, as we discussed, we are reasonable. They are not. The Raiders obviously have a fan base in California. The Rams obviously have a fanbase here. Why transpose the two? It makes no sense. If Kroenke’s Endgame was to move the Rams all along, the league HAD to know. The other owners HAD to know. Don’t tell me that a group of billionaires were fleeced in concert by Silent Stan. You don’t get into that tax bracket by having the proverbial wool pulled over your eyes. Ev-er. Am I bitter…perhaps. But, don’t think for one second that I believe the narrative being spun by the NFL seamstress that is Roger Goodell. The puppeteers pull the strings just off camera, the NFL owners. They pretend to have “the best interest of the league” in their words. Replace league with wallet and you have your more correct answer.
Getting back to the fan base. The Rams have been historically great or inadequate, depending on the 5-year period to choose as your sample size during their time in St. Louis. Form the Outhouse to the Penthouse, and back again. I am 32. The Rams have been here my entire adult life and for my entire teenage years. My daughter is a Rams fan and is 7 years old. The generational fan gap is just now starting to be bridged. The Rams true fan base is just now starting to earn money, buy season tickets and become active in the team-fan process. Pulling up and leaving now would be astronomically difficult to repair, even if the Raiders came to St. Louis. The best thing for the league is to leave the Rams in St. Louis. Only a reasonable person would see it that way.
Thanks for the time.
