Stan Kroenke told Bernie Miklasz of the Post-Dispatch today that he would like to keep the St. Louis Rams under the Arch.
I'm going to attempt to do everything that I can to keep the Rams in St. Louis. Just as I did everything that I could to bring the team to St. Louis in 1995. I believe my actions speak for themselves.
I've always stepped up for pro football in St. Louis. And I'm stepping up one more time.
As I've said before, my roots run pretty deep in St. Louis, and on a personal level this is good news. On the business side of things though, Kroenke and everyone else knows that in the NFL any team in any city can make a profit. Remember, the buy low price for the Rams was around $750 million. Get the team back on track, and that could easily get back to the billion dollar neighborhood. Teams don't always make big profits, and a sub-standard product on the field will kill the bottom line as fast as anything as fans stop buying tickets and watching the games. The Rams could be especially profitable if they can get a new stadium deal done, and though it's never been said, I'll wager that the possibility of getting a stadium is a big part of Kroenke's interest in the Rams. He does have a track record with owning teams and the venues where they play, to wit, the Pepsi Center and the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets.
If the draft goes well for the Rams this weekend, the franchise should be a giant leap closer to a better future. That would sell tickets and make a stadium deal much more realistic.