LA Rams 2.0: Big Dog Bludgeons Fat Cats with Bigger Bucks
Here's the rich part:
Stan Kroenke basically got Los Angeles all to himself by doing what Al Davis did back in 1982.
These days, it can be termed as the Eric Cartman maneuver:
The Big Dog has learned well from the Lone Wolf.
Kronke's and San Diego Chargers owner Spanos' statements would've fit perfectly in a Pravda article during the Soviet Union's heyday.
- The Rams owner could give a damn about St Louis with all that LA real estate available;
- Spanos can't stand Kroenke and has given San Diego locals every reason to revile him; and
- Raiders owner Mark Davis must be hitting every ouija board in California, trying to conjure up advice from his dad.
Back in the day, Al Davis took a hard look at his opposition's alternatives, saw that they couldn't legally stop the Raiders' move to Tinseltown, and told Pete Rozelle & Cabal to pound sand.
The only real difference between then and now is wallet size. It's good to marry in to the Wal-Mart fortune.
As a result, Kroenke didn't give a damn about the owners' deliberations as to how to carve up Los Angeles. All he did was drop the hammer at the appropriate moment and declare that he's gonna plop his team on land he bought.
Once he got USC and the LA Coliseum in the bag so the Rams would have a place to play for a couple of years, he tossed the owners a sop and a diplomatic way of caving -- remember, the recommendation was for the Charger-Raider deal in Carson -- Kroenke emerged with the deal he knew he'd have all along.
If there's any justice in all this, it's that Spanos has music to face in San Diego -- he can either be the No 1 tenant there or gag as a secondary revenue stream in Kroenke's empire -- and Oakland is the natural home for a team like the Raiders. That, and the fact that Kroenke is actually bankrolling most of the development instead of mega-milking Inglewood taxpayers.
So now St Louis is the NFL's tethered goat. That is, if the city still has the stomach for dealing with these weasels.