St. Louis city officials yesterday said that Rams Owner Stan Kroenke "isn't returning their calls, so they plan to work directly with the NFL on efforts to keep a team -- any team -- in St. Louis amid speculation the Rams are headed back" to L.A., according to Arash Markazi of ESPN.com. St. Louis Mayor's Office Dir of Communications Maggie Crane said that the decision to work directly with the league is "due in part to the fact that Kroenke won't take calls from Mayor Francis Slay or other city leaders." Crane said of Kroenke, "He hasn't responded, he hasn't called back, he hasn't done anything." Slay's Chief of Staff Jeff Rainford said, "After a while, you sort of get the hint." He added, "The NFL can make money in St. Louis. It may end up being the Rams with this owner, the Rams with a different owner, a different team with a different owner" (ESPN.com, 1/7). But in Missouri, Jim Connell writes if there is a "bad guy in this entire scenario, Kroenke is just the easy target." Those looking to assign blame should "take aim at the city and the Convention and Visitors Commission, which agreed to Rams' original lease" for the Edwards Jones Dome. That agreement contained a "ridiculous provision that it be maintained and updated as a 'first-tier' NFL facility, or else the team can void the lease and go to a year-by-year agreement" starting in '15 (SPRINGFIELD NEWS-LEADER, 1/8).
GODSPEED, COLD CALLERS: In St. Louis, Bernie Miklasz writes he "can’t comprehend what the next seven or eight months will be like for sales and marketing staff at Rams Park." Miklasz: "Good luck with the ticket campaign. Have fun trying to line up corporate sponsors. Better wear some earplugs when you solicit financial support for Kroenke’s franchise." Residents "have to come to grips with the reality" of '15 looming as the final season for the Rams in St. Louis, and the experience "most likely will be depressing, maddening and intensely uncomfortable" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 1/8).
