St. Louis Rams Owner Stan Kroenke To Build L.A. Stadium

Sam Farmer and Rodger Vincent of the L.A. Times splashed news of a new stadium in Inglewood, CA to be build by St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke and the Stockbridge investment group.

Using the 60 acres of land he purchased a year ago along with Stockbridge's adjacent 238 acres, the plan is to build an 80,000 seat stadium and 6,000 seat performance venue. The Rams have until January 28th, 2015 to tell St. Louis they want to convert their existing lease on the Edward Jones Dome to a year to year agreement.

But St. Louis fans shouldn't get too excited just yet...

First, Kroenke is a real estate developer, and the land was bound to be used in this way being adjacent to existing venues. Also, I seriously doubt any billionaire would spend in the neighborhood of an estimated $2 billion on a project for a team that will use it for only 8 days a year. The cost could easily exceed this amount, since both investment entities have vowed no taxpayer money will be used. Infrastructure improvements to the surrounding area could push this project into the $3 billion stratosphere...

What St. Louis fans may want to add into any fear of losing their team is this doesn't exclude the possibility Kroenke is simply building a stadium with an eye for either the San Diego Chargers or Oakland Raiders to lease. Neither of these two NFL owner groups has the cash to build their own venue in L.A., even with financial help from the NFL. Plus, the building plan is tentatively slated to be completed for 2018.

So before you start burning Stan Kroenke likenesses in effigy, keep an eye on what St. Louis' response is, and what their counterproposal winds up being. It takes a 3/4 vote by NFL owners, and there are qualification hurdles that make moving an NFL team a hard thing to do.