Is it worth keeping the Rams? - Ingles

With only two days to go before the first critical deadline approaches that could secure the Rams' future in St. Louis, a lot of people need to answer a few important questions. Whatever the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission comes up with Wednesday as it outlines plans to upgrade the Edward Jones Dome to a "first tier" venue, isn't it time that someone take an accurate pulse of this region to determine just how badly we want or need an NFL franchise to call our own?

Isn't that what it comes down to?

Ask yourself the simple question: What's it worth to the St. Louis region to be one of the only 32 municipalities in America that has an NFL franchise?

I'm not looking for answers from the irrational windbags who lead with raw knee-jerk emotions, or the snide citizens who look down at pro sports as if they were eying cancerous growths rather than valued civic commodities.

This is not a time or place for "Occupy Rams Park" manifestos, either. This matter requires some deep thought and intelligent conversation. I make no apologies for where I stand. For all the obvious reasons (and quite a few not so obvious ones), I am and always have been "pro" pro sports business. I want the commission and state and local officials to do whatever they can within reason to prevent Rams owner Stan Kroenke from breaking the lease at the Dome and relocating the franchise to Los Angeles, London, Toronto or Timbuktu.

I don't know what "within reason" means just yet. But if we can get a true temperature of the region and a consensus of intelligent people agree that there is legitimate value in having an NFL franchise in St. Louis, then the commission negotiators must get creative enough to entice Kroenke to stay put.

The debates are just getting started, and I understand all the arguments for and against. These are tough economic times for financially strapped municipalities, and here we have a billionaire owner with enough discretionary income to consider spending some of his riches on another pro franchise (LA Dodgers. Asking price? $2 billion). Why can't he spend some of that cash building his own new stadium?

The simple answer is maybe he will. But that doesn't mean Kroenke won't use every bit of leverage he can to extract the best possible deal out of St. Louis when all is said and done. And that's why this can't be one of those defiant negotiations where the commission walks into the room arrogantly pretending to hold all the trump cards because, plain and simple, the commission has little leverage. Kroenke is the one holding the easily breakable lease. He's the one who has London in the East as a potential relocation option and Los Angeles in the West as another option. He's the one who has skillfully played this thing out by floating rumors that he's contemplating buying the Dodgers ("Ohhh my gosh, he's going to have the Dodgers and Rams in LA!!!"). He's the one who sported the very unpopular poker face in his most recent public appearance.

"All these things are creating doubt and a little fear," said Patrick Rishe, Webster University sports economist and Forbes magazine columnist. "From a pure business perspective, I'd say this is good business for him to play his cards the way he's playing his cards. I'd say 'job well done.' Someone asked me the other day if he had a moral obligation to St. Louis football fans. I said absolutely not. His moral obligation is to do what is best for the best financial return of the owners. And if I was him, I can't say I wouldn't be doing the same things he's doing."

Everyone knows that barring construction of a new, publicly financed stadium (which won't happen), there isn't much the commission can do to insure that the Dome is upgraded to the point where it can remain a "top-tier" venue. But that doesn't mean the commission can't be creative and come up with any number of incentives that would keep Kroenke interested in staying here.

Giving him land to build his own stadium or parking structure might do the trick. Giving him sizable amounts of cash might be just as nice in the interim. Thinking outside of the box is what it's going to take to pull this off, and it would be great if a few outside forces created a little helping hand, too.

"There's no question that they can't (improve the dome to top tier levels)," Rishe said. "(The negotiations) may ultimately depend on what they have to do, not want to do. It may depend on if another team beats (Kroenke) to Los Angeles. If another (franchise) like Jacksonville, Buffalo, Minnesota, Oakland or San Diego decides to move and beats the Rams to Los Angeles, then that puts (St. Louis) in a better negotiating position.

"(But) until another team makes that move, Kroenke will be able to push for greater concessions (from the commission)," Rishe said. "His negotiators might be able to squeeze out money from the city in the $30 million to $60 million range in terms of revenues that are currently going to the CVC that could go into the pockets of the Rams as a concession for the fact that we can't get into that top tier. At least that money is cheaper than the $200 million to $300 million in public money that would be required to (renovate the Dome) to even approach that first-tier status."

So that brings us back to the start of this conversation. What's it worth to St. Louis to have an NFL franchise to call its own?

Rishe says there are no clear-cut studies that prove or disprove the value of a city having an NFL franchise within its borders. The research is all over the place and is subjective stuff. But too many academics and civic snobs pretend that this question doesn't go beyond economics.

Being a pro sports town has "a psychological effect on a community's psyche," Rishe said. "'We are now a big-time city because we have a pro sports franchise.' Oklahoma City is a great example. More people look at that city as a place to go check out because it is more visible and talked about because it has an NBA franchise, and more to the point a winning NBA franchise. With the Rams and football here in our city, we've already taken one blow to the gut when the Bidwills moved the (Cardinals) franchise in the '80s. So the real concern is what sort of image or stigma might be associated with the city psychologically to outsiders if we lose a second NFL franchise?"

(source St. Louis Post Dispatch)