Nobody has said much about the kind of deal Shahid Khan is likely getting on purchasing the Rosenbloom's 60 percent stake in the St. Louis Rams, but it's probably one of the more bargain basement prices paid for majority ownership in an NFL franchise in a long, long time. Of course, we have no idea, yet, what the terms are. We do know that the Rams' value was downgraded recently to around $750 million, well short of approximately $900 million value Forbes assigned the team several months ago. I doubt seriously the deal is as simple as Khan paying 60 percent of that assessed value. However, it is very possible that he'll be purchasing an NFL team at a price somewhere less than $500 million. 

Deal or no deal, the Rams can't be a very profitable franchise at this low point in their history. We don't know what kind of profit they turned in 2009. The players' union is trying desperately yo force the NFL to reveal exactly how much profit teams are making as part of the CBA wars. If that info does get out, I suspect it will reveal the Rams among the league's losers in profit as well...though they may have still been in the black thanks to the league's revenue sharing, something that CANNOT be bargained out of the next CBA, let's hope. 

When the owners and players do finally agree to a new CBA - and I can't imagine a similar revenue sharing plan not being included - a winning Rams team could become quite profitable for Khan, not to mention how much more enjoyable it would make Sundays again for the rest of us. Shrewd move to buy the Rams now. 

The St. Louis Rams have a new owner. Well, almost. Illinois auto-parts magnate Shahid Khan has agreed to terms for the Rosenbloom's 60 percent share of the team. The deal is expected to be completed in a month or so. 

There's not much to say about the matter at this point. To our LA fans, I'm sorry to say that all indications point to Khan, who has deep ties to St. Louis and the region, intends to keep the team here. As a St. Louis guy that makes me happy. St. Louis is a great American city and it deserves a football team. More importantly it deserves a winning football team, and it would seem at first glance that Khan intends to support the front office in making that happen. And that's good news. He is also reportedly willing to work out a deal to address the stadium issues that arise when the franchise reaches a key clause in its lease on the Dome in 2014 that allows them an out in the agreement if the Dome isn't among the top facilities in the league. 

It also means that the ownership issue is settled, or will be. The Rams have enough to do without an ongoing sideshow, not to mention the uncertainty that creates for the front office guys who are making big financial decisions. 

It remains to be seen how active and involved with running the day-to-day aspects of the Rams Khan intends to be, or how tightly he intends to control the purse strings as the Rams head into the uncharted territory of an uncapped year. He seems like a smart enough businessman to know that a winning team brings home the bacon. 

Talk about the end of an era though. The Rosenblooms have owned this team for a long, long time. Carol Rosenbloom swapped his ownership of the Colts for the LA Rams in 1972. 

There's still much to learn, but this seems like good news. 

There's some big news about the sale of the St. Louis Rams floating around the wires today. First, the name of the third buyer, i.e. not Checketts or the Toronto-connected group, has emerged. Dr. Richard A. Chaifetz, a St. Louis U grad and owner of the CommPsych, has reportedly offered $725 million for a 100% ownership stake in the franchise. That makes him, according to the report, the leading bidder for the Rams. Of course, that ups the ante on Stan Kroenke's decision. Kroenke has to approve any offer on the Rosenbloom's share of the team, and weigh the costs of selling his 40% share under the terms of this offer. The good news about Chaifetz, for St. Louis peeps anyway, is that he sounds committed to keeping the team in St. Louis. 

Bernie Miklasz says Chaifetz is NOT a potential buyer for the Rams. Considering Chaifetz' name first surfaced in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, you have to wonder how much of it's tug-of-war over a scoop. Newspapers are dying, or so I've heard.

One of the factors that might be making Chaifetz a leading bidder is this report, that Dave Checketts does not have the cash to purchase the team. It's not known whether or not his group is looking at the Rosenbloom's 60% share or the entire team. That seems fishy since the PD's Bernie Miklasz reported Checketts had brought Texas billionaire Gerald J. Ford (no relation?) into the mix with his group. If Checketts does not have the cash, then Ford's commitment might not be all that strong. Does Checketts have the cash or not? How can he not have the money yet made it this far into the process? Wasn't his offer vetted to some extent?

Stay tuned. 

Could the St. Louis Rams be heading for the great white north, eh? Apparently one of the three bidders in the mix for the team is a Toronto-based outfit. Don't start packing your long underwear just yet, it's a big leap from here to Toronto. Miklasz, the columnist reporting this, has a tendency to over-dramatize situations as well, since that's the stuff that sell newspapers. Of course, that doesn't mean if a Toronto-connected buyer were to swoop in that the Rams would be headed there. I'd be interested to see what the read NFL's read on the market there is. Baseball hasn't fared so well north of the border, and an NFL team would require a lot more butts in the seats than the CFL. 

Where Bernie is right on the money is that if you're wanting the Rams to stay under the arch, you probably ought to be pulling for Checketts. But there's another reason you should be pulling for Checketts: he's been a committed and by all accounts damn good owner for the Blues, the city's always threatened hockey team. 

One other factor that weighs into the forumla is that nothing happens without the blessing of Stan Kroenke. The third bidder for the Rams is reportedly a Chicago-based party, but that's not confirmed. The most logical leap, for now, about the prospects of a Chicago connection buying the Rams is that at least they move them to Chicago, but they may be more inclined to find greener pastures - LA? - or stay close to their team which would just be a few hours down the interstate. 

Personally, I'd like to see the Rams stay in St. Louis. This is my city. My family's been here since before it was a US city even. BUT, with technology being what it is, you can at least still closely follow the team where ever the play. Beauty, eh?

There's news on the "for sale" front for the St. Louis Rams. The Post-Dispatch is reporting that three serious bidders have emerged, and the current owners, Chip Rosenbloom and his sister Lucia Rodriguez, will make a decision to sell their share, 60 percent, of the team or hang on to it before the draft in April, probably. There's nothing hard and fast about the deadline; it's mostly about letting the team get on with life and out of for sale purgatory. 

The only known bidder is St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts' group. Checketts has a stated desire to keep the team in St. Louis, something that will factor heavily into selecting a buyer. One of the bids, the article says, is for the full 100 percent ownership stake. That puts Stan Kroenke in play, who owns 40 percent of the team. Kroenke has to give the nod before a sale can be completed, and that could happen as soon as this week when the Rams leadership meets for their annual state of the team pow wow. 

At one point in time, I thought for sure that Kroenke would be a buyer, but now I'm wondering if won't be looking to sell all or part of his share of the team. Why? In addition to his stake in the Rams and the NBA and NHL franchises he owns in Denver, Kroenke also owns part of a little professional soccer (football) team called  Arsenal, part of the English Premier League and the third most valuable sports franchise in the world. There's talk that Kroenke wants to buy a controlling interest in Arsenal, for which he'd surely have to sell some of his U.S. owned teams to complete. 

Who knows who will buy the Rams, if they end up being sold. What I do know is that it won't matter who owns the team if they don't start winning games and becoming a more profitable franchise. Fortunately, we seem to be headed in that direction thanks to the overhaul of the front office and coaching staff by Chip Rosenbloom. This offseason was already a crucial one for the next stage of the team, and with the ownership situation hanging overhead the offseason stakes just got a lot higher. 

The St. Louis Business Journal has a profile of St. Louis Rams minority owner Stan Kroenke, who recently upped his ownership share, to 29%, in the Arsenal of the English Premier League...that's soccer in case you're wondering.

Kroenke's the one to watch in the Rams ownership sweepstakes. Not only does he have the rights to match any offer for the Rosenbloom/Rodriguez majority share, he's speculated to be the most likely buyer for controlling interest in the Rams. Of course, that will still require some finagling with the NFL's cross-ownership rules given his ownership share in the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche. Basketball is Kroenke's passion, and the piece speculates whether or not he'd be willing to part with the Nuggets to become the majority partner with the Rams. Of course, he'd still have his stake in the Denver regional sports television network, Altitude, which would still be a pretty lucrative connection to the Nuggets. He can also convince NFL owners to waive the rule; it would be unwise to rule out that scenario. 

A happy footnote for St. Louis area fans who would like to see the team stick around are the circumstances that led to the Missouri native's purchase of a 40% stake in the Rams in the first place:

Kroenke purchased his 40 percent stake in the Rams and helped relocate them to St. Louis from Los Angeles in 1995 after an attempt to land an NFL expansion team here flopped.

It's hard to say what the timeline for the Rams ownership saga to play out looks like. The economy certainly complicates things in both the sale and the ability to develop a new stadium, something that would almost certainly be required to keep the team in St. Louis. Stay tuned.

Hey, speaking of a new stadium, if that happens would you prefer to see an outdoor stadium or another dome?

Last Friday the Rams-for-sale saga took an interesting, hopeful (for those who'd like to see the team stay in STL anyway) turn when a report surfaced that FedEx founder and CEO Fred Smith had emerged as a potential buyer. 

Well, scratch that. A source connected to Smith told the Memphis Commercial Appeal that Smith was not interested in the Rams. As we pointed out last week, Smith never acknowledged being interested in the Rams; his name just popped up as a nice fit...probably floated by folks wanting to find some security for the Rams.

There's still a couple horses in this race with the Checketts group and Stan Kroenke. My money's still on Kroenke, but the race is far from over. 

Yesterday, the name Fred Smith, FedEx founder and CEO, floated to the surface as a potential buyer for the Rams, but there's something in this story worth pointing out. Smith has yet to actually throw his hat in the ring and state publicly that he's interested in owning Chip Rosenbloom and his sister's share of the Rams. Others have brought Smith's name to the fore in the Rams-for-sale saga.

Note what St. Louis Convention and Visitors Bureau Chairman Dan Dierdorf told the PD:

I do not know of any conversations that have taken place between Fred Smith and the Rams.

Of course, there's always the "where there's smoke" idea, but this is also probably more about getting another interested buyer into the fold and making the offers more competitive for Rosenbloom. It's entirely plausible that both things are at play here, which is to say that Smith does have some interest in purchasing a share of the Rams as well as other parties using his known interest in NFL football and obvious wealth to drive the auction a little bit. Kroenke, for now, is the one to watch in all of this.

Ah, corporate intrigue.