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Are the St. Louis Rams heading back to Los Angeles? Who knows. It's way too early to tell. However, the circumstantial evidence lined up with the team's soon-to-be free agent lease situation on the Edward Jones Dome, makes it hard to ignore the possibility.
Stan Kroenke still isn't saying anything.
However, team VP Kevin Demoff, his right hand man in St. Louis, did have some words for fans this week.
"There's no certainty for the Rams beyond March 2015," Demoff said Wednesday on The Morning After show on 920 AM, "and it's not a good place for fans, and it's not a good place for the Rams.
"We've done everything we can to improve the communication with the fan base, to be open, to improve the product, to improve our relationship ..."
Demoff goes on to address Kroenke's silence in the interview with 920, pointing out that this is the way his boss operates. He even acknowledges that it's frustrating for fans. And it is, very much so.
If Kroenke was more like other sport owners, what exactly would he say? I'm also guilty of expecting the team's owner to be out front on the stadium issue. No, there isn't much he can say. It's a complex issue with a lot of moving parts, as Demoff says, including the touchy issue of public funding and a city that's been burned before by an NFL team.
But we're really not looking to Kroenke to keep us apprised of his daily calendar as it relates to the Rams and the Dome. We're not looking for some insincere platitude about "doing everything we can to keep the Rams where they are" either, because right now, Kroenke can't promise anything like that.
However, that doesn't mean he can't say anything, something to at least keep fans, in St. Louis and L.A., aware of the situation.
The rumor mill when it comes to the stadium situation churns quickly and without remorse ... or much forethought. So when Stan Kroenke buys 60 acres of a prime stadium site in the middle of the Los Angeles, people in both cities are going to talk, deejays are going to spew hot takes and the media is going to speculate based on precious few facts available.
Demoff points that out in the interview and bemoans the fact that the positive things the Rams are doing that further their connections with the city and fans -- charity work, fixing up the EJD concessions areas, etc. -- get buried by the gossip. I can certainly appreciate his frustration, but what does he really expect to happen given the circumstances?
That's why Silent Stan's silence is a problem for the Rams. He can't be somewhat clear about his intentions for the 60 acres in Hollywood Park? Kroenke can't come right out and say what exactly he plans to do there, because it's likely he hasn't made that determination yet.
It's curious when he has to report that land purchase to the NFL, an unnecessary step if he were just planning to build more strip malls there. It would seem to signal some kind of a sports venture on that spot, and now that reports of Kroenke pursuing an MLS team in LA have surfaced it makes more sense.
He doesn't have to be perfectly transparent about his intentions, and whatever he said wouldn't have nixed the rumors. However, it would have put something out there besides the rumors, some statement about his intentions, however vague.
Give Demoff credit for hitting the local media circuit to talk about the issue. He's not really saying anything that would put anyone's mind at ease about the future of the team in the city, either city, but he is acknowledging our frustrations and keeping us up to date, in as much as possible, about what's going on ... and doesn't that at least feel a little better than leaving it up to partisan columnists and deejays to tell the story for them?
You can listen to the full interview below (via InsideSTL.com):
