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?