Edward Jones Dome/St. Louis Rams

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by I_AM_Clayton

I'm sure many of you have heard already, The St. Louis Rams that played in The Edward Jones dome (The FIRST world championship home for only 2 more years ), have officially become the Los Angeles Rams and will longer play in St. Louis. It's sad for me as I am a St. Louisan myself and grew up a fan from birth. The Edward Jones Dome will never have the same feel now that the Rams are leaving. By the time April comes around there's a possibility that a lot of the Rams merchandise around the dome/America's center will be gone. Of course it's not the end of the world but it will never be the same. I know it's not directly FIRST news but, what are your thoughts?

The NFL is greedy and does not care about fanbases. St. Louis will become a bargaining chip to threaten other teams for years to come.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

The NFL is greedy and does not care about fanbases. St. Louis will become a bargaining chip to threaten other teams for years to come.

I was thinking that with both the Raiders and the Chargers unhappy with their current stadiums, St. Louis knows exactly where to recruit a team to relocate (particularly if the Chargers decide not to join the Rams).

[Cory]

Originally Posted by EricH

I was thinking that with both the Raiders and the Chargers unhappy with their current stadiums, St. Louis knows exactly where to recruit a team to relocate (particularly if the Chargers decide not to join the Rams).

Nobody wants to be in STL. The Raiders and Chargers want a new stadium and can't get one. The Rams wanted a new stadium and couldn't get one. Nobody is coming to a city that won't build a new stadium.

[RamZ]

As someone named Ram from Los Angeles, I'm ecstatic. Hopefully Champs follows them to LA.

In actuality, being that FIRST arranges the location of Champs way in advance, I don't see their move being too big of a problem on our end.

[Koko Ed]

The shiny new car feel of the Rams will wear off after one season and the LA fans will stay away when they are lulled to sleep by Jeff Fisher's complete dislike of offense.

[cglrcng]

Originally Posted by RamZ

As someone named Ram from Los Angeles, I'm ecstatic. Hopefully Champs follows them to LA.

In actuality, being that FIRST arranges the location of Champs way in advance, I don't see their move being too big of a problem on our end.

OK you win...Your story was much better than mine Ram. Especially if you are a Rams fan.

I have to say though, the only decent sized bet that I ever made on NFL Football, was on the Rams in the early 1980's and I won big!

[cglrcng]

Where are they going to play in L.A....Anyone know?

[bduddy]

Originally Posted by cglrcng

Where are they going to play in L.A....Anyone know?

The LA Coliseum for a couple years, then a new stadium.

[cglrcng]

Thanks,

Just read the article.....Yes, back home to where they fled from, then over to Inglewood (if and when the deal goes through and construction is completed and financed. Right where I used to go see those pretty horses run "The Old Location of Hollywood Park." And it only seems like they were gone 30 years to me...More like 21 years ago. Both the Rams and the Raiders fled L.A. in 1994 to seek fame and fortune & much greener grass elsewhere......Neither have found it yet.

I do sympathize with the OP...It is hard to be a pro sports fan and watch your teams (that you supported by attending regularly, buying high priced official team memorabilia, high priced food and tickets, etc. just turn their backs on you as thanks (no good deed goes unpunished), because those poor broke (financially strapped), team owners make bad business decisions (even though they have as NFL Team owners IRS Non-Profit Status), and are always looking at slamming the local taxpayers to build them new BILLION $$$$$ stadiums and or they will just seek greener pastures and kick their fans right in the stinking teeth.

L.A. City said they were not going to look to the taxpayers on the deal....RIGHT, SURE YOU WON'T, I believe you, uh huh....Naming rights won't build and maintain a BILLION $$$$$ NFL Stadium these days. Maybe IF, and it appears a huge IF, the Raiders and the Chargers join the Rams in the deal, they may just be able to pull it off. Now, can or will L.A. NFL fans support 3 different teams using the same Stadium? (Except Jack Nicholson and his friends). How do you do that with the colors and graphics on all the concourse walls?...Maybe all light boards or triangular rotating signage everywhere. What a nightmare to design and implement.

I'll take robot building and working w/ kids any day!

At CMP last year, we went to the village by the Stadium for FIRST Volunteers night and The St. Louis Blues were playing a Stanley cup game and they had them up on a huge big screen in a very large (HUGE SCREEN, HUUUUGE place), bar area, which was wall to wall people just going nuts! They love their Blues.

They were mainly local Blues Fans, but the view of the game in that bar was better than any possible nosebleed or even ice or board side seats where they were actually playing. I love NHL Pro Hockey and I felt like I was actually "at the game" after just a few minutes...minus the actual expensive seat of course, as the place was standing room only, and the beer was a bunch less expensive. (The players were about full size or larger on the screen so it was like you were on the ice or sitting in the penalty box actually watching the game).

St. Louis definitely has the fan base to support pro sports teams, so somebody is doing something wrong in their marketing department.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by RamZ

As someone named Ram from Los Angeles, I'm ecstatic. Hopefully Champs follows them to LA.

In actuality, being that FIRST arranges the location of Champs way in advance, I don't see their move being too big of a problem on our end.

It's a question of availability.
Apparently there is NOTHING available at all on the west coast til the next decade. How that is possible is beyond me.

[I_AM_Clayton]

Originally Posted by Cory

The Rams wanted a new stadium and couldn't get one. Nobody is coming to a city that won't build a new stadium.

Actually we as a city put up $150 million and created a stadium task force that created an entire new stadium plan. It's not that didn't have the resources/money and or ability, it's that Stan wanted to move the team and the NFL is interested in the money sitting in LA vs. STL.

[Ryan Dognaux]

Originally Posted by Cory

Nobody wants to be in STL. The Raiders and Chargers want a new stadium and can't get one. The Rams wanted a new stadium and couldn't get one. Nobody is coming to a city that won't build a new stadium.

*Kroenke doesn't want to be in St. Louis. I'm not sure what more St. Louis could have done to try and get the franchise to stay, short of offering a billionaire to build the stadium completely for free. St. Louis had voted to provide a ton of funding to build a new stadium. The St. Louis stadium proposal was more developed than the Chargers or Raiders.

It has been painfully obvious that Stan Kroenke wanted to make the Rams a terrible team in order to leave St. Louis. He's one of the worst owners in all of professional sports who does nothing for the community and only cares about money. This move was financially motivated regardless of what the NFL says.

It's a sad day for St. Louis. Good luck LA, with an owner like Kroenke you'll need it.

[I_AM_Clayton]

Now that the Rams are gone Edward Jones has pulled out their sponsorship and the Dome is no longer the ¨Edward Jones Dome¨, but now ¨The Dome at America's Center¨.

[mastachyra]

The dome is just another empty building in the downtown area of St. Louis. I was amazed at how many buildings were closed down. It felt like the dome was the only thing keeping any of the businesses in the area running.

This is a huge loss for STL, but not surprising.

Embrace your hockey and baseball team while theyre decent.

[Foster]

Originally Posted by Cory

Nobody wants to be in STL. The Raiders and Chargers want a new stadium and can't get one. The Rams wanted a new stadium and couldn't get one. Nobody is coming to a city that won't build a new stadium.

Originally Posted by I_AM_Clayton

Actually we as a city put up $150 million and created a stadium task force that created an entire new stadium plan. It's not that didn't have the resources/money and or ability, it's that Stan wanted to move the team and the NFL is interested in the money sitting in LA vs. STL.

The problem in St Louis (and about to be the problem in all the places that have NFL teams) is the greed by the owners.

From this article from the Huffngton Post

At the beginning of 2015, city and state taxpayers still owed more than $100 million in debt on the bonds used to finance the Edward Jones Dome, the stadium St. Louis put $280 million in public funds behind in 1995.

The new stadium was expected to cost $950 million dollars with most of the cost to be covered by the taxpayers and most of the revenues from the games to be taken by the team.

A little bit of Google searching will get you the cost of stadium construction This one has a good summary of other places

More and more owners are asking for "field parity" aka Skyboxes, jumbo jumbotrons, more seating, etc. For a building they will use 9 times a year and will want a new one every twenty years (use is about 185 times, hardly worn out). The NFL is a multi billion per year, 2015 revenue was estimated at $14 billion. They can easily afford paying for stadiums out of their own pockets.

What could St Louis and the state do with $800 million? Lots of improvements in the schools and infrastructure. And remember that 800 million is borrowed dollars, when they get done in 30 years paying off the interest, you are talking over $2 billion dollars. Not a small amount of money.

As you can tell, this is a real hot button for me. I'm good with professional sports. Not good with the cost being carried by taxpayers while the profits go to the owners and the NFL. Yah, yah, I get the "well the money trickles down from the jobs (9 times a year) and the concessions (9 times a year and the team shares the profits) and parking (9 times a year and the team shares the profits) and the hotel rooms, tourists into the area, etc. " Not buying it. If all that money was rolling into St Louis and the state, would they be in the shape they are today?

[/rant]