[moklerman]

What's really sad is that Goodell came out and said that the St. Louis proposal wasn't viable. They had years to come up with something and it still wasn't ready. The claim is that they put something together in a short amount of time but that's being dishonest IMO. St. Louis knew they weren't going to pay for the upgrades to the EJD for a LONG time.

Conceptually, the river front project should have looked like Star Wars. It should have been so dazzling and over the top that every team in the league would want to play there. They couldn't actually pay for ANY new stadium so at least impress everyone with what you "want". That they went with a very boring, cookie-cutter design just punctuates how boring their proposal was. And NOT what the league would go with. The whole reason the Rams got out of their lease was because the dome wasn't top tier. To propose a brand new stadium that STILL wasn't going to be top tier is laughable.

[OldSchool]

I still think the biggest mistake of Peacock and Nixon was not sending it to the voters. They were working on it the longest and had the most time to get everything done and they were the one city offering public funds that refused to let their people vote on it. If they'd put together the package they presented and it was back by a public vote securing the money the NFL might have had a much harder time finding St Louis' proposal insufficient.

[Elvis]

I tend to agree with Nixon, they were never going to keep the Rams in St. Louis.

Kroenke wanted out and he left. Who was going to tell him no?

[Stranger]

I think once Stan foud the Hollywood park land it was over.

[den-the-coach]

IMHO back in 1994 they knew that St. Louis was a challenging market, Shaw really wanted Baltimore because he felt their fans were more passionate than Los Angeles, however, Baltimore was not as far along as St. Louis and the Rams would have had to play in the old Memorial Stadium for too long before the new venue was built so St. Louis was a better fit for the timing and facility.

But they knew the facility had to be first class for St. Louisans to fully support football and that's why I did not think much of the Riverfront Stadium because it was open air down by the river which would of made it very windy and not very pleasant in December and January. People forget when the Rams hosted the Buccaneers in the NFC Championship game in 1999, it was 8 degrees and snowing that day in St. Louis.

Overall they are and will always be the Los Angeles Rams and I'm just overjoyed that ESK has brought my team home and is going to build a palatial venue for the ages!

[BuiltRamTough]

I think once Stan foud the Hollywood park land it was over.

Basically.

The Inglewood project is going to put the NFL on another level.

[ramsman34]

Actually, once they (STL) signed the lease in 1994, as Den the coach said, it was basically known they would be there no more than 10-20 years as STL could not afford to keep pace with top tier stadiums, especially in that dump of a dome. The fate was sealed when Stan the Landman bought the parcel in Inglewood.

And now, we all get to meet, some of us for the first time, as we tailgate together in September!!!

[bluecoconuts]

“My recollection,” he said, “was we thought we had plenty of time to figure that out.”

That seemed to be everybody's thought throughout the years...


Very well written article, breaks it down well.

[/zn/]

But they knew the facility had to be first class for St. Louisans to fully support football

Reports I have read say that the Rams were actually stunned the city went for this. Either way, do you actually need a first class facility to keep up fan support? I mean unless it's an unspeakably bad one, I don't think fans care how high a facility ranks in the league. The reason the Rams attendance dropped over the years in St. Louis had nothing to do with the facility. I thought it had more to do with both a long series of losing seasons and the knowledge the team was trying to move.

[Stranger]

But they knew the facility had to be first class for St. Louisans to fully support football

Reports I have read say that the Rams were actually stunned the city went for this. Either way, do you actually need a first class facility to keep up fan support? I mean unless it's an unspeakably bad one, I don't think fans care how high a facility ranks in the league. The reason the Rams attendance dropped over the years in St. Louis had nothing to do with the facility. I thought it had more to do with both a long series of losing seasons and the knowledge the team was trying to move.

Well, from my own personal experience, I've attended quite a few San Francisco Giants Baseball games. Now, I'm no fan of the team, and I much prefer the Oakland A's, but that stadium is what drew me to the game. It's one in the best in baseball. So, in my case, I've made the decision to attend based upon the quality of the venue.