[den-the-coach]

For him (Kroenke), deals are like fence posts. “You’ve just got to pound on them,” Gordon recalls him saying. “You pound on it, pound on it, pound on it, and then all of a sudden it actually goes down.”

[den-the-coach]

At the NFL owners’ meetings at the Waldorf Astoria New York in October, reporters are kept in a hallway behind velvet ropes. They wait all day for anything they can get.

“You guys are in the pen? What’s going on over here?” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says as he walks by in the morning.

“You make the rules,” says one reporter.

“I didn’t make those rules,” Goodell says over his shoulder.

Now and again, an owner, this time Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, leaves the ballroom where the meeting is and walks down the hall to the men’s room at the other end. “Mr. Jones? Jerry?” the reporters plead. “Do you have a minute?”

Jones stops, and a scrum forms. Nobody has to say what everybody wants to know: What’s the latest on Los Angeles? “We have the opportunity to do something special,” Jones says, before ambling away. The reporters huddle to parse his words. He must mean the Stan Kroenke plan.

The National Football League wants to put at least one franchise in Los Angeles by the start of next season. Kroenke, the owner of the St. Louis Rams and arguably the most powerful owner in sports, wants it to be his. He’s ready to build a $1.9 billion stadium southwest of downtown. He has big backers. Jones, who built an 80,000-seat cathedral to excess known as “Jerry’s World” for his Cowboys in 2009, admires the grandeur of Kroenke’s plan and has sided with him against owners from the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders, who want to build and share a stadium in the L.A. suburb of Carson, bringing two franchises to the city at once. Jones’s tossed-off comment about “something special” is the tiniest scrap, but when you’re covering Kroenke, that feels like a meal. He seldom gives interviews.

Kroenke (pronounced Krone-key) is one of the wealthiest and least-known owners in professional sports. He’s a Missouri-born (full name: Enos Stanley, after St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famers Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial) real estate developer who’s married to a Wal-Mart heiress. At the Waldorf, he looks trim and fit for 68 years old. He’s wearing a dark suit, black tie, and white shirt with matching pocket square. His chevron mustache and sideways flop of hair are graying. At one point, in what passes for tweet-worthy news, he exits the restroom with Clark Hunt, owner of the Kansas City Chiefs and one of the members of the NFL committee overseeing the Los Angeles bids. As usual, he ignores the reporters. He didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.

According to the website for his project, billed as the City of Champions Revitalization, Kroenke aims to turn a demolished horse racing track and parking lot in Inglewood, Calif., into an 80,000-seat stadium with a latticed open-air roof; an adjacent 6,000-seat arena; 1.7 million square feet of retail and office space; 2,500 residential units; and a hotel. To put the Rams there, he’ll have to secure the approval of at least 24 of 31 of his fellow NFL owners and give a stiff arm to his native Missouri. Everything in Kroenke’s past suggests he will find a way. “If it can get done, he’ll get it done,” says Jim Gordon, a longtime business partner. The move would almost instantly create one of the most valuable teams in football.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/ ... -over-l-a-

[SoCalRam78]

Yeah, at the end of the day give me the guy with the power and money, who has done these types of deals for a living since the 1970s and is making the more grandiose project over Dumb and Dumber 2 who are backed by an investment bank giant who'll want massive ROIs.

[69superbowl]

I am not a supporter of E. Stash and have been critical of his lack of open leadership for my beloved Los Ramos. I just don't like his style. That said, he had the money and ability to save the franchise from total embarrassment and has. Fisher and Snead are at least stabilizing forces for a team heading south for years and years. They have returned the franchise to some level of respectability (that seems to change week-to-week). Granted, they still stink, and have been a great disappointment lately. Hacksaw, that was a great article, thanks for putting it up here. ESK is a purely, organically a landlord; not a tenant. In St. Louis he is a tenant and it appears would remain so if forced to stay. I'm sure he has been pretty happy since the CVC declined to bring the EJD into contractual compliance. Also, I was under the impression all these years that E. Stash was a "St. Louis" guy. Turns out he is a Kansas City man. That is an important fact.

[moklerman]

I am not a supporter of E. Stash and have been critical of his lack of open leadership for my beloved Los Ramos. I just don't like his style. That said, he had the money and ability to save the franchise from total embarrassment and has. Fisher and Snead are at least stabilizing forces for a team heading south for years and years. They have returned the franchise to some level of respectability (that seems to change week-to-week). Granted, they still stink, and have been a great disappointment lately. Hacksaw, that was a great article, thanks for putting it up here. ESK is a purely, organically a landlord; not a tenant. In St. Louis he is a tenant and it appears would remain so if forced to stay. I'm sure he has been pretty happy since the CVC declined to bring the EJD into contractual compliance. Also, I was under the impression all these years that E. Stash was a "St. Louis" guy. Turns out he is a Kansas City man. That is an important fact.

I think many have presumed too much in that regard. "Missouri guy" is what was first said as far as I can recall and that evolved into being a "St. Louis guy".

But I wonder if you have an example of the type of leadership you'd want from an owner?

[69superbowl]

Mok, I am 55 years old and my allegiance to Ram football goes back as far as any memory I have in this world. A time before billions of TV dollars and gladiator styled fireworks engorged stadiums were the rule. Football to me is filled with passion. Sometimes it's happy, sometimes it's angry, but it is always something that gets my heart pumping. I guess for that reason I prefer an owner like the one I remember most: Carroll Rosenbloom. A self-made, flawed (fatally?) sonofabitch, who was .... you guessed it: Passionate about his teams.

Ok, Carroll might be a bad example since he became polarized from the commissioner's office and temporarily aligned himself with that other passionate rebel owner Al Davis. I would like an owner who is visible to the fans of the community where the team plays. Football has become part of the landscape in NFL cities. I would prefer it not become a commodity to be traded or asset to be magnified over the lives, businesses and careers of those people who support it (fans, vendors, businesses that were created to make the fan experience better). The Rooney family in Pittsburgh has always struck me as a great NFL owner. Arthur Blank in Atlanta, and yeah, even Jerruh in Dallas. They all seem to truly love the game of football and do what is right by their city, team and fans. Carpetbagging doesn't sit well with anyone, and whether E. Stash is a St. Louis/KC or generic Missouri man (like saying a Los Angeles Californian is the same as a Bay Area Californian. You know the difference, right Mok?) he has not been accessible, informative or inspiring to we Ram fans with the exception of cutting big checks - which is great - but, back to the top, football is about passion with me. I write checks for business all the time, believe me, there is no passion in that activity. So, those are my initial thoughts. Sorry for the delayed reply. To wrap, I want an owner who: 1) has deep pockets; 2) loves football; 3) is occasionally accessible to the fans (media) when questions or major issues arise; 4) wants to put the best team on the field every season; 5) doesn't embarrass the team/city. Stan, similar to his team's winning percentage since he took control, is good on 2 out of 5 for me (1 & 5 if you're counting). Can I live with an owner who opens up the checkbook and just hangs in the shadows? Hell yes, I know our leopard is not going to change his spots. Just not what I grew up with. As I said, I just don't care for his style.

[Hacksaw]

ESK might be a bit more noticeable after all this is over. Prior to GF passing, he was minority so she was the face. Since he took over he had a different agenda. One which is really good for the Rams. The position he put himself in doesn't/ didn't leave him much to talk about ant frankly was the wise thing to do.
After the dust settles and all the relocation stuff is over, if then he still doesn't speak to us , then I'll be on board with your sentiment SB69. Until then 'm just stoked he is trying to bring them home even if the purpose is to make him more money and the team more powerful.

[Elvis]

The brain trust:

[Hacksaw]

I am not a supporter of E. Stash and have been critical of his lack of open leadership for my beloved Los Ramos. I just don't like his style. That said, he had the money and ability to save the franchise from total embarrassment and has. Fisher and Snead are at least stabilizing forces for a team heading south for years and years. They have returned the franchise to some level of respectability (that seems to change week-to-week). Granted, they still stink, and have been a great disappointment lately. Hacksaw, that was a great article, thanks for putting it up here. ESK is a purely, organically a landlord; not a tenant. In St. Louis he is a tenant and it appears would remain so if forced to stay. I'm sure he has been pretty happy since the CVC declined to bring the EJD into contractual compliance. Also, I was under the impression all these years that E. Stash was a "St. Louis" guy. Turns out he is a Kansas City man. That is an important fact.

I think many have presumed too much in that regard. "Missouri guy" is what was first said as far as I can recall and that evolved into being a "St. Louis guy".

But I wonder if you have an example of the type of leadership you'd want from an owner?

I posted this in another thread here but it seemed appropriate here now.

For those who think Stan is hated by the owners think again.

Quote:
There was no drama and next to no fanfare. It took NFL owners less than an hour Wednesday morning to unanimously approve Stan Kroenke as the new majority owner of the St. Louis Rams.

Quote:
"Obviously, all of us know and respect Stan," Goodell said. "The good news is, he's been an NFL owner, and he's been around the NFL since 1993 when I first met him in the expansion process."

Quote:
"Stan will be a great owner," Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said. "He's everything you're looking for. Stan wants to win. He's won with the hockey team, with the basketball team in Denver.

"And at the same time, he's committed to the (NFL), and he's a great partner. It's a good day for the league. These things don't happen very often. It's really important to have 32 really good owners in the room. I think that serves the league really well."

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football ... 76183.html

[Hacksaw]

Something about her clutching the Lombardi tarnishes it somehow.