The past week has been a difficult one for many people living in the St. Louis area. With the Rams moving back to California the city finds itself without an NFL franchise for the second time. Being a Rams fan myself I felt it necessary to vent my frustrations in the form of questions to the owner of the franchise. Before I begin, however, let me state that I also vented my frustrations in a less eloquent manner on display in this video.
1. Why did you lie to the city of St. Louis?
Stan Kroenke became the majority owner of the Rams in 2010. In one of his first press releases, he stated, “I've never had any desire to lead the charge out of St. Louis. That's not why we're here. We're here to work very hard and be successful in St. Louis”. This was obviously proven to be false as Kroenke did just that. For a man who claims to love both Missouri and St. Louis, he certainly did neither any favors. Moving the Rams out of the area takes away a revenue stream that will be extremely difficult to replace, and a void that will take years to fill.
2. Why didn’t you help pay for a stadium in St. Louis?
In the lease on the Rams former stadium, the Edward Jones Dome, it was stated that the stadium must be in the top twenty-five percent of all stadiums in the NFL. This was a point of contention for several years and was one of Kroenke's most commonly cited reasons for wanting to relocate. If it was his hope that the Rams play in a top tier stadium, then why didn’t he try to help build it? This same man is spending $2.66 billion on a stadium in Inglewood, California and $550 million in relocation fees. This is despite the fact that the city of St. Louis met its obligation to provide both a plan and funding of $477 million dollars for a new state of the art stadium. With funds available to meet the lease requirements, why didn’t Kroenke offer to use any part of his $7.5 billion net worth?
3. Why do you keep buying sports teams when you’re so awful at it?
Under Kroenke's ownership, the Rams posted a collective record of 36-59 and ranked in the bottom four in home game attendance. The Denver Nuggets, another one of Kroenke's franchises, ranked last in attendance for home games last season in the NBA. Kroenke's Colorado Avalanche are consistently in the bottom ten in home game attendance in the NHL. Each of these teams has seen poor attendance as a result of poor play.
