Rams moving back to LA

[Crisis]

https://twitter.com/DailyNewsVinny/status/687072811559432192

At least we don't have to deal with all the relocation bull**** anymore.

[TacklingDummy]

Always thought of them as LA Rams. Now it will also be the LA Chargers.

[BillsImpossible]

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0OwPPOu1yk4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Albany,n.y.]

20 years from now the Rams will move back to Cleveland.

[Mr. Pink]

Always thought of them as LA Rams. Now it will also be the LA Chargers.

Cleveland Rams!

[Beebe]

When they were here in L.A. they sucked and no one wanted to see them, and they leave and they became good, and now they suck, and now they come back. Good thing for me I'm a Bills fan and I get to see them play against the Rams in 2016. In L.A.

[YardRat]

https://twitter.com/DailyNewsVinny/status/687072811559432192

At least we don't have to deal with all the relocation bull**** anymore.

Thank you, Ralph.

[Night Train]

The winner in all this is Raiders owner Mark Davis. His Dad secured territorial rights back in the 1990's and the owners paid him off yesterday to let The Rams move to L.A., with San Diego an option for the following season.

So Mark Davis has all these millions, yet still has a Moe Howard haircut. Go figure.

[sukie]

This absolutely blows for true football fans living in the greater St Louis area. I cannot imagine what this is like.

I remember sitting in a sports bar with Preseason game 1 of the return of the Cleveland Browns... Bar was packed. To see Browns fans make that ramping up cheer during the opening kickoff was awesome. So happy for them all. The St. Louis Rams fans must be sick.

On a positive note... Real estate will spike in the LA area with all these new millionaires quickly snapping up properties. The guys on Million Dollar Listing are all sporting wood like a Viagara overdose.

[OpIv37]

The vote was 30-3 in favor of the move, with one of the dissenting votes coming posthumously from Ralph Wilson, who said he "didn't understand it" and thought it was unfair for St Louis fans to have to drive 2500 miles for home games.

[Buffalogic]

Four teams in California. Jeez.

[Mahdi]

I think its a BS move by the Rams organization.

The Rams have built a real fan base over the years in St.Louis and moving them back to LA where no team seems to be able to make it work is dumb.

[OpIv37]

Four teams in California. Jeez.

Florida and NY have 3.

Oh wait, one. NY only has one.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

So how far away is realignment?

Bills, Steelers, Browns, Bengals. I can attend Bills games regularly ...

[trapezeus]

rams make the NFC west travel a bit easier. it was a mistake to move the cardinals to Arizona. it made stl open again. so they move the rams when they failed in LA. I really hope this blows up in their face again and that they find out the hard way that no one likes pro football in LA.

[OpIv37]

rams make the NFC west travel a bit easier. it was a mistake to move the cardinals to Arizona. it made stl open again. so they move the rams when they failed in LA. I really hope this blows up in their face again and that they find out the hard way that no one likes pro football in LA.

They like USC. That's a professional football team.

[kscdogbillsfan1221]

So how far away is realignment?

Bills, Steelers, Browns, Bengals. I can attend Bills games regularly ...

that would make a lot of sense. but i feel you can't remove the ravens out of the browns division.

also, with the placement of the rams back in LA, it truly is now the NFC west finally.

[kscdogbillsfan1221]

rams make the NFC west travel a bit easier. it was a mistake to move the cardinals to Arizona. it made stl open again. so they move the rams when they failed in LA. I really hope this blows up in their face again and that they find out the hard way that no one likes pro football in LA.

yup.

all three teams that are talking about moving to LA have already had stints there! what's the definition of insanity again???

[swiper]

Four teams in California. Jeez.

That's the way it had been for years: 49ers, Raiders, Rams, Chargers.

[k-oneputt]

LA likes winners. Biggest bandwagon around. They will initially show up and then dwindle if they suck.

[Scumbag College]

Rust Belt division! Or Great Lakes Conference!

Buffalo, Pitt, Cincy, Cleveland, Detroit, Indy, Chicago, and GB.

[Bill Cody]

Maybe St Louis can scarf Jacksonville

[swiper]

Maybe St Louis can scarf Jacksonville

Jaguars owner says he’s not interested in St. Louis (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/01/13/jaguars-owner-says-hes-not-interested-in-st-louis/)

[IlluminatusUIUC]

The owners have you guys completely bamboozled if you think the teams left LA over attendance. Or that they are even going back over attendance.

[gebobs]

Always thought of them as LA Rams. Now it will also be the LA Chargers.

And there's even talk about the Raiders. What a joke the NFL is.

- - - Updated - - -


Jaguars owner says he’s not interested in St. Louis (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/01/13/jaguars-owner-says-hes-not-interested-in-st-louis/)

Taken right from John Y. Brown's playbook.

[SpikedLemonade]

I fully support the move to LA.

A lot of the petty comments here towards LA are just jealousy over the fact that no one but an absolute idiot would build the stadium they going to build in LA in Buffalo.

Especially a fracking idiot who has seen the price of oil/natural gas plummet over the past 2 years.

[Mr. Pink]

All about getting back the number 2 TV market back.

People point out they lost 2 teams relatively recently there so it's not a destination where people like football, well St Louis has now lost 2 franchises relatively recently...maybe people there don't like football either.

[SpikedLemonade]

Jaguars owner says he’s not interested in St. Louis (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/01/13/jaguars-owner-says-hes-not-interested-in-st-louis/)



Who would be?

Pegula fell into Buffalo like a gift from heaven for Bills fans.

The Jags owner has his eyes set upon moving to London over the next decade.

[gebobs]

All about getting back the number 2 TV market back.

People point out they lost 2 teams relatively recently there so it's not a destination where people like football, well St Louis has now lost 2 franchises relatively recently...maybe people there don't like football either.

When I think of St. Looie, I think baseball and German restaurants.

[Bill Cody]

I'm confused. So LA goes rom 0 teams to 2?

[gebobs]

I'm confused. So LA goes rom 0 teams to 2?

Possibly three.

[Mr. Pink]

Possibly three.

Oakland withdrew their bid.

[stuckincincy]

The players must be shaking their fists as they leave Missouri's 6% income tax rate and get to pay Cali's 13.3%. :curse:

[Bill Cody]

The players must be shaking their fists as they leave Missouri's 6% income tax rate and get to pay Cali's 13.3%. :curse:

They're probably all FL "residents"

[kscdogbillsfan1221]

I fully support the move to LA.

A lot of the petty comments here towards LA are just jealousy over the fact that no one but an absolute idiot would build the stadium they going to build in LA in Buffalo.

Especially a fracking idiot who has seen the price of oil/natural gas plummet over the past 2 years.

The 'petty' comments are because people have seen LA lose all three teams that are trying to come back. They do not consistently support their franchises. It's not jealousy. It makes some sense because it's the second largest market in the country, but it still stands that they have lost all three of their previous franchises.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

They're probably all FL "residents"

Doesn't matter where they live, it matters where they earn. They'll be playing 9 of their 16 regular season games in California.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2015/04/13/tax-day-april-15-accountant-pro-athletes/25742385/

[gebobs]

Oakland withdrew their bid.

For now.

[BLeonard]

Thank you, Ralph.

You mean, "Thank you, Terry and Kim"...

While I'm sure some think that that $400 million "relocation penalty" in the lease was some huge barrier that Wilson put in, guaranteeing that the Bills stayed, it really isn't. The relocation fee for Kroenke (and presumably Spanos or Davis) to move was $550 million. Couple that with the fact that Kroenke is paying for a $1.8 billion stadium (projected to cost over $2 BIL when all is said and done) and the fact that Kroenke, according to some reports has ALREADY paid the entire relocation fee in cash, you mean to tell me that an owner like Kroenke (if they owned the Bills instead of the Pegulas) would have balked at paying another measly $400 mil to get out of the lease? Get real.

Look, I get that some, for whatever reason, don't like the Pegulas. What I don't get is how some of those SAME PEOPLE worshipped Ralph, simply for not moving the team. Sure, the Bills didn't fare as well as we all hoped this season, but it's pretty harsh, IMO, to be bashing the Pegulas after ONE YEAR of owning the team.

Any way you slice it, that 16 year playoff drought some of you are blaming Terry and Kim for...? The first 15 of it were with Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. at the helm. Not Terry, not Kim and not Rex Ryan.

Speaking of Ryan, I again get that some fans don't like him. Yardy, in particular, has *****ed and complained about not having Schwartz... As yourself these two questions:

1: Why did Schwartz leave? It's pretty common knowledge that upon being hired, Rex did offer to keep him on staff. Schwartz said no.

2: If he's so good, why isn't Schwartz coaching elsewhere? Could it be that he simply wanted out of coaching in 2015? Hell, the Bills didn't let Schwartz interview for the Redskins DC position, so it's pretty obvious that they wanted to retain him in some capacity. Can't force the guy to coach if he doesn't want to.

I just find it mildy amusing that some of the people *****ing and complaining about Terry, Kim and Rex after one season on the job heap praise on Wilson, who only had a handful of winning seasons during the half century plus that he owned the team.

-Bill

[swiper]

Schwartz took a cushy job working for the NFL.

[stuckincincy]

While I'm sure some think that that $400 million "relocation penalty" in the lease was some huge barrier that Wilson put in, guaranteeing that the Bills stayed, it really isn't. The relocation fee for Kroenke (and presumably Spanos or Davis) to move was $550 million. Couple that with the fact that Kroenke is paying for a $1.8 billion stadium (projected to cost over $2 BIL when all is said and done) and the fact that Kroenke, according to some reports has ALREADY paid the entire relocation fee in cash, you mean to tell me that an owner like Kroenke (if they owned the Bills instead of the Pegulas) would have balked at paying another measly $400 mil to get out of the lease? Get real.




Cha-ching! :jj:


The Rams are now the third-most valuable franchise in the NFL
By John Breech | CBSSports.com January 20, 2016 7:54 pm ET

"Rams owner Stan Kroenke will never come out and say it, but a big reason he moved his team to Los Angeles is because there's almost no ceiling to the amount of profits Kroenke will be able to make there.
The Rams owner will basically be able to print his own money once his $1.86 billion stadium complex is up and running in Inglewood, California. Although the stadium isn't expected to be finished until 2019, that doesn't mean Kroenke won't see any immediate financial benefits from his team's move to L.A.

Take the Rams' valuation, for instance. According to Michael Ozanian, the executive editor for Forbes, the franchise is already worth a lot more money, thanks to the move. "It doubles the value of the team," Ozanian told the Washington Post this week. That means the Rams' value shot up from $1.45 billion to $2.9 billion the minute the NFL made the move official. That also means the Rams are now the third-most valuable team in the NFL, behind only the Cowboys ($4 billion) and Patriots ($3.2 billion)."...


http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25456390/the-rams-are-now-the-third-most-valuable-franchise-in-the-nfl


BTW, the STL taxpayers are on the hook for $100M in stadium bond payments, plus another $16M (!) for a "study" for a new stadium there.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

BTW, the STL taxpayers are on the hook for $100M in stadium bond payments, plus another $16M (!) for a "study" for a new stadium there.

If the NFL had even the slightest thread of integrity, they would compensate the city for leaving them with an expensive paperweight.

But they won't, obviously.

[stuckincincy]

If the NFL had even the slightest thread of integrity, they would compensate the city for leaving them with an expensive paperweight.

But they won't, obviously.

No - they won't. The CIN deal had a book written about IIRC.

But would would really rock them is the spectre of folks being to be able to opt out of ESPN. The general concept of by-channel cable opt-out has some problems despite the populist idea - the channel(s) you like might not be popular enough to garner enough ad dollars. So it dies. But with the huge $$$ deal between the NFL and ESPN, mass desertion from ESPN by subscribers would bite them hard.

Here's a poll that claims 56% would drop ESPN and save the 8 bucks per month:


http://stopthecap.com/2016/01/13/more-than-half-of-america-would-wave-goodbye-to-espn-for-8mo-off-tv-bill/

I don't sweat the 8 dollars, but given the option I'd dump ESPN for the pleasure of putting a thumb in the eye of the NFL. Same goes for our august universities who jumped on the same money train.

[DraftBoy]

If the NFL had even the slightest thread of integrity, they would compensate the city for leaving them with an expensive paperweight.

But they won't, obviously.

Not the NFL's responsibility, nor should it be. St. Louis residents need to hold their local officials accountable for this disaster.

An interesting lawsuit was filed yesterday by Rams fans. It names about 50,000 past and present PSL holders from the Rams stadium in St. Louis in a suit filed yesterday against the Rams. It states that the PSL gives them the right to their home game tickets through 2025 and does not stipulate that the agreement only applies to home games in St. Louis. If that suit is on legitimate grounds then the Rams are going to have pay out a lot of money to 30,000 people. It also says that the Rams violated Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.

The lead attorney is expected to ask the judge for class-action status on this suit.

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2016/01/20/stl-fans-file-another-lawsuit-against-now-la-rams/

This is a very clever way for the fans to get back at an owner for gouging them before packing the team up and moving them.

[Bill Cody]

The NFL is an odd mix of socialism and capitalism. They're socialist where they want to be (revenue sharing, the draft, the salary cap) but when it comes to moving franchises it's pure capitalism. To me, that's BS. Cities and states have both a financial and emotional investment in a football team yet they have zero control. When a stadium gets old the billionaire owners in most cases line up to drink from both the public trough and the NFL trough for money and infrastructure in the millions. And if another city comes along and gives them a better deal, even if they're selling out the games it's see ya. It's heads we win tails you lose. What a farce. IMHO the NFL should have in it's bylaws strict rules that each owner must agree to in order to relocate. Getting more greenbacks elsewhere shouldn't be enough to pull the plug on a city. That's why guys like Bill Bidwell, Jim Irsay and Art Modell will live forever in infamy in their old cities. It sucks.

[OpIv37]

The people in Balt who are old enough to remember the Colts leaving are still pissed at Irsay, even though they have a team that won two SB's because Modell did the same thing to Cleveland that Irsay did here.

[stuckincincy]

An interesting lawsuit was filed yesterday by Rams fans. It names about 50,000 past and present PSL holders from the Rams stadium in St. Louis in a suit filed yesterday against the Rams. It states that the PSL gives them the right to their home game tickets through 2025 and does not stipulate that the agreement only applies to home games in St. Louis. If that suit is on legitimate grounds then the Rams are going to have pay out a lot of money to 30,000 people. It also says that the Rams violated Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.

The lead attorney is expected to ask the judge for class-action status on this suit.

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2016/01/20/stl-fans-file-another-lawsuit-against-now-la-rams/

This is a very clever way for the fans to get back at an owner for gouging them before packing the team up and moving them.

Tossing in two cents, the CIN ownership vs PSL owners had 2 issues.

Prior to new stadium construction, they allegedly published incorrect seating charts, the result being that many folks ponied up more money up front than the final PSL seat cost - CIN got a free float of their money. IIRC, their was a suit.

Then they insisted that implicit in the purchase of a PSL was an obligation to purchase season tickets for something like 10 years, even if the PSL owner sold his license. They tried to sue owners, and were sued back.

One has to suspect that other PSL shenanigans have occurred elsewhere...

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Not the NFL's responsibility, nor should it be. St. Louis residents need to hold their local officials accountable for this disaster.

The disaster was signing the stadium deal in the first place and most if not all of those officials are out of office by now IIRC.

The NFL is pulling one of the longer, more effective cons going. If they feel entitled to demand a nine-figure relocation fee, I think basic decency would suggest they use that to pay off the debt of the city they ****ed on the way out.


An interesting lawsuit was filed yesterday by Rams fans. It names about 50,000 past and present PSL holders from the Rams stadium in St. Louis in a suit filed yesterday against the Rams. It states that the PSL gives them the right to their home game tickets through 2025 and does not stipulate that the agreement only applies to home games in St. Louis. If that suit is on legitimate grounds then the Rams are going to have pay out a lot of money to 30,000 people. It also says that the Rams violated Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.

The lead attorney is expected to ask the judge for class-action status on this suit.

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2016/01/20/stl-fans-file-another-lawsuit-against-now-la-rams/

This is a very clever way for the fans to get back at an owner for gouging them before packing the team up and moving them.

I would love for that to win, but it doesn't solve the basic problem.

That, and the NFL will inevitably fight that as far as humanly possible. The Rams might move again before that suit sees a resolution.

[stuckincincy]

The disaster was signing the stadium deal in the first place and most if not all of those officials are out of office by now IIRC.

The NFL is pulling one of the longer, more effective cons going. If they feel entitled to demand a nine-figure relocation fee, I think basic decency would suggest they use that to pay off the debt of the city they ****ed on the way out.



I would love for that to win, but it doesn't solve the basic problem.

That, and the NFL will inevitably fight that as far as humanly possible. The Rams might move again before that suit sees a resolution.

Poor St. Looie - the Dem party populists that like to grab center stage against the evil NFL aren't going to bat for them. Not a peep from the usually vociferous Shumer, eh?

[DraftBoy]

The disaster was signing the stadium deal in the first place and most if not all of those officials are out of office by now IIRC.

The NFL is pulling one of the longer, more effective cons going. If they feel entitled to demand a nine-figure relocation fee, I think basic decency would suggest they use that to pay off the debt of the city they ****ed on the way out.

I would love for that to win, but it doesn't solve the basic problem.

That, and the NFL will inevitably fight that as far as humanly possible. The Rams might move again before that suit sees a resolution.

How is that basic decency? If a local municipality can't do a basic analysis of its on the ground economy and figure out what happens if a team stays or goes then that's on them. If a local government votes to build a stadium using any public dollars without going to a public referendum that's on them. If a local government allows for a vote and votes to pay for the stadium then that's on them.

Building a new stadium should never just be a "we have to keep the team" type of decision. If that's how your elected officials talk then you have elected the wrong officials and once again that's on them. The NFL charging a relocation fee doesn't have anything to do with a local on the ground decision, nor should they bear any liability in it. Not to mention the relocation fee is such a paltry drop in the bucket of public debt that usually follows that most would probably spin it as an insulting gesture by the NFL as opposed to a genuine one.

I too doubt the suit has legs, but it could something that the Rams just genuinely screwed up. The NFL will fight anything that could do potential harm to the idea of PSL's, I don't know that this suit attacks that as much as it attacks the Rams stupidity.

Also :rofl: at your last comment, that's very true.