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St. Louis to Stan Kroenke: You're 'preposterous'

David Hunn

ST. LOUIS • Football fans and area officials alike blasted St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke on Wednesday, calling his scathing National Football League relocation proposal a “pot shot” at the region, and some of his facts “preposterous.”

“Our fans support their professional and amateur teams,” said Gov. Jay Nixon, visiting the region for an unrelated news conference. “Especially ones that win.”

St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger called Kroenke an “absentee owner” and his claim that St. Louis lacks the economic vitality to support a football team “demonstrably preposterous.”

The St. Louis Regional Chamber said it was “disappointed” in the statements made in the Rams proposal.

And St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay publicly criticized Kroenke in a flurry of posts on the social media site Twitter, calling him “absent and unavailable,” and his team’s performance “unimaginative.”

“If the Rams do eventually leave, it will not be for something the region failed to do. Or the fans,” he wrote.

“Blame Kroenke,” Slay concluded.

Wednesday afternoon, Slay confirmed his surprise that a man of Kroenke’s “stature and resources” would take “pot shots” at a region in which the real estate developer has invested so much cash.

Kroenke sent to the NFL on Monday his proposal to build a $1.9 billion, 3 million-square-foot football palace in Inglewood, Calif. The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders also filed that day, proposing a two-team stadium in Carson, a dozen miles south.

The Chargers and Raiders proposal has not yet been made public. But the Rams released Kroenke’s application late Tuesday, in response to a request from the Post-Dispatch.

And it was scathing. Kroenke claimed the St. Louis region is losing population and lags in economic drivers to such a degree that it cannot support three professional sports teams. Despite “significant” investments in the team, game attendance “has been well below the League’s average,” Kroenke continued in his submission.

Moreover, he didn’t just state that the Rams aren’t interested in the $1.1 billion riverfront stadium proposed by Nixon’s local task force. “Any NFL Club that signs on to this proposal in St. Louis will be well on the road to financial ruin,” Kroenke’s relocation application read, “and the League will be harmed.”

“Compared to all other U.S. cities, St. Louis is struggling,” it said.

Local leaders and fans, especially, immediately began tearing apart the proposal and questioning its facts.

How could Kroenke claim St. Louis can’t support three professional sports teams? Why did he use St. Louis city statistics, when football draws fans from across the region? How could he argue that spending up to the NFL player salary cap each year equals a “significant investment” in the team?

And that part about the St. Louis stadium plan leading to financial ruin? Really?

Nixon scoffed at the allegation.

“When you talk about financial ruin, you typically don’t think about NFL owners,” Nixon said. “They seem to have risen to a position to take that away as a life risk.”

The Regional Chamber also mounted a quick response to the doom-and-gloom St. Louis economic projections in Kroenke's proposal.

The chamber called the area “one of the largest economies in the U.S.,” hosting the headquarters of six of America’s largest private companies and 19 Fortune 1000 companies. It ranks as the 20th-largest U.S. metro area in employment and personal income, the chamber said.

“And far from being ‘struggling’ compared to all other U.S. cities, St. Louis is experiencing an entrepreneurial renaissance,” the chamber’s statement continued, “recently ranking first in the world for growth in tech venture capital investment and being named one of the best start-up cities in America.”

In key demographics, the chamber said, St. Louis is comparable to Denver, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Tampa Bay, all regions with three professional teams.

The task force said Wednesday it was working on a detailed response to Kroenke’s 29-page proposal. Slay said he would immediately write a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Still, Slay said Wednesday afternoon, he’s not angry. “I take this for what it is,” Slay said. “It’s a sales document. He’s trying to make a pitch … to move the team out of St. Louis.”

But its use of “inaccurate statements” and “misinformation,” Slay said, come off as desperate.

“It would seem to me,” Slay concluded, “what only someone concerned about his chances of moving the team would do.”

Kroenke’s tactics, he said, amount to a Hail Mary.

The Rams did not reply to a request for comment.

Jacob Barker of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

They really think all of these bitter hit pieces are gonna make the NFL tell him he has to take a deal he hates in a stadium he doesn't want?! All for 100 Million less than his initial investment into Inglewood. I always wondered how much Stockbridge was good for in the partnership and it seems like a significant amount. Also Kroenke controls all 298 acres! STL just can't compete with that. We're watching the end of the marriage with STL like they watched with LA/Anaheim in 95.

What a crooked bunch they are. Why didn't they just honor their lease agreement? Why? Why? That's all they had to do.

So, they dishonor their contractual oblibations for 12 years, and Stan is the bad guy? Disgusting.

Touchy bunch aren't they? You know what that usually means? Why did this get leaked again?

Another one:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/co ... gY.twitter

Editorial: Silent Stan unloads, offers to show the NFL the money

By the Editorial Board

In any legal proceeding, the trick is to hire the best, the toughest and the nastiest lawyers you can afford. E. Stanley Kroenke, owner of the St. Louis Rams, clearly knows this trick.

The “Statement of Reasons in Support of the Rams’ Application to Relocate to Los Angeles,” filed with the National Football League last week and reported Wednesday by the Post-Dispatch’s David Hunn, should be read as a legal brief. It presents one side of a very complicated argument. It is not intended to be fair and dispassionate review of the facts, and it’s not.

But having written it, or at least approved it, Mr. Kroenke has passed the point of no return in his long quest to move his team to Los Angeles. After what he said about St. Louis, it’s hard to imagine what he’ll do if the league says no. Which is entirely possible.

Mr. Kroenke’s case will be decided, possibly as early as next week, by the 31 other NFL team owners, with input from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and other league officials. In the socialist cartel that is the NFL, the law is whatever the NFL wants it to be. The league has “guidelines” for team relocations, but the guidelines are squishy and not legally binding.

The politics of the league are as opaque as those of the Kremlin. Mr. Kroenke is believed to have some support, but he needs the approval of 24 of the 32 teams. Barring some kind of backroom deal, he can forget the votes of the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers. They also want to move to the Los Angeles market and have a competing stadium proposal.

Faced with those odds, Mr. Kroenke’s 26-page brief relies heavily on promising the other owners lots more money. In the NFL, this is usually an effective tactic.

The brief emphasizes the many sources of revenue that his $1.9 billion stadium-cum-mixed-use-development could generate for the league. He envisions Super Bowls and permanent facilities for the league’s television network and digital and retail divisions. NFL retail. NFL office parks. NFL entertainment. Think Disney World without the rides or the mouse. The stadium is Cinderella’s Castle.

And of course, as a real estate mogul, Mr. Kroenke describes his Inglewood project as both “world-class” and “iconic.”

Not only is he offering to become the NFL’s landlord, he stresses that he’s prepared to spend $800 million of his own money on the project. He’s willing and able to pay a “reasonable relocation fee,” money that will wind up in the other owners’ pockets. And perhaps because he’s seen soccer fans pay for the privilege of standing to watch his Arsenal team in the English Premier League, he’s introducing the idea of 30,000 standing-room spaces for big events like the Super Bowl. Figure $200 for an SRO ticket, that’s $6 million more for the owners.

“Silent Stan” wants to be “Standing-room Stan.”

Mr. Kroenke argues that his project is far superior to the Raiders’ and Chargers’ competing proposal in Carson, Calif., and far, far, far superior to the new stadium proposed on the St. Louis riverfront.

His brief goes into great detail about how shabbily he and his team have been treated in St. Louis. Why, the Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority — the state agency that owns the Edward Jones Dome — and the Convention and Visitors Commission, which operates it, have dumped on the team since 2002!

Well, yes. Local authorities were in no hurry to replace or upgrade the Edward Jones Dome, inasmuch as it is still being paid for and inasmuch as they only belatedly realized they’d stupidly signed a lease that made the stadium obsolete even before it opened.

Mr. Kroenke argues that the Rams made every effort to come to an agreement with the RSA and CVC. Well, we do remember their fabulous $700 million scheme to close the dome for conventions for a year, close off Broadway and put skylights in the roof.

Given the grandiose dreams Mr. Kroenke has in mind for Los Angeles, it’s clear that those negotiations were doomed from the outset. They were all for show, to demonstrate that he tried, he really tried, to make a deal here.

“What would be unfair and inequitable is for the League to require the Rams to do something more in terms of community engagement,” the brief argues.

How about engaging the community by winning a few more football games? The Rams haven’t had a winning season since 2003. Since Mr. Kroenke took over as majority owner in 2010, 7-9 is the best they’ve been able to do. Playoffs? Forget about it.

But, as St. Louis learned in 1988 when the league approved Bill Bidwill’s request to move his football Cardinals to Arizona, winning more than they lose is not an obligation the league requires of its owners, either.

From the time he and his money were brought into the St. Louis stadium negotiations in the early 1990s, Mr. Kroenke knew that all he had to do was wait. He knew the dome could never be among the top 25 percent of facilities in the league. He knew that after 2014, he had an out. As a real estate man, he’s used to long timelines. Nobody ever said he wasn’t smart.

As a place to develop real estate, St. Louis can’t compete with sunny California. Mr. Kroenke, in his brief, goes into great detail about the growth prospects for St. Louis, which he finds to be meager.

This is a little odd, given the money Mr. Kroenke has taken out of St. Louis. The THF Realty Co., headquartered in Overland, owns nearly everything in the Chesterfield Valley, along with shopping centers in Fenton, Wentzville and other suburban locations. Wherever taxpayers are willing to subsidize a Walmart, there you’ll find Mr. Kroenke.

But no, we’re not LA. All we can do is try to dig into state and city pockets for $500 million toward a new $1 billion stadium that Mr. Kroenke doesn’t even want to talk about. “No NFL club would be interested in the RSA’s new stadium,” the brief sniffs.

Why? Because the league and the team owner will be asked to pay for half of it. And if you’re imbued with the sense of entitlement that pervades the NFL, why do that?

After reading this brief, it’s tempting to suggest that Mr. Kroenke not let the doorknob hit him in the backside. But that would be personal, and this is business.

We haven’t seen much of it since the league first moved here in 1960, but a well-run football team, one that wins more than it loses most years, and one willing to return the devotion of fans, would not only prosper in St. Louis. It would thrive. Anyone who thinks differently has a different agenda, and is just making excuses.

But having written it, or at least approved it, Mr. Kroenke has passed the point of no return in his long quest to move his team to Los Angeles. After what he said about St. Louis, it’s hard to imagine what he’ll do if the league says no. Which is entirely possible.

I don't believe ESK and the Rams write and submit that proposal if they knew the NFL would say "no".

Also, these writers have all forgotten by the GSOT. I never had that in LA. StL got perhaps the greastest offense ever seen, but no mention of that team. All they talk about is how they've never had winning football in StL.

It's amazing after all the vitriol for the last year or more from the St Louis media and the people in St Louis that they're actually shocked and reacting this way. These same people have been changing "EFF Kroenke" at games and holding up derogatory signs to him at practices, games and NFL meetings. And all the sudden they're shocked that Stan responded in kind and put the nails in the St Louis NFL coffin with such force?

They keep on saying Mr. Kroenke and then they blast him.

LOL, sour grapes.

One thing smart business people know is not to take things personal when making business decisions or negotiating. I have a feeling Kroenke doesn't take things personal. For him its just business. But the St. Louie people are not only taking it personal, they're lashing out at him in every way imaginable. Do they think thats the way to negotiate? Maybe try coming up with a realistic proposal. I keep hearing them say its fair, but how many owners would take that deal? I'm sure Spanos or MacDickardson would not take that deal.