Rams Owner Stan Kroenke yesterday met with Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon at Rams Park, but Nixon's Press Secretary Scott Holste "declined to answer questions about the meeting's topic," according to Jacob Kirn of the ST. LOUIS BUSINESS JOURNAL. The meeting "marks the first known instance in which Kroenke has met with any of the officials who are working to build a stadium on St. Louis' north riverfront in an effort to keep the Rams from moving" to L.A. (BIZJOURNALS.com, 11/30). In St. Louis, Jim Thomas in a front-page piece notes stadium task force co-chair Dave Peacock "also was at Rams Park" yesterday, although he "did not take part in the meeting." Specifics of the meeting "were uncertain." But a source said that Kroenke "wanted to make sure he had a 'complete understanding of things.'” One of the "frequent complaints about Kroenke in particular, and the Rams in general, is that the organization has not engaged in any kind of consistent dialogue with the St. Louis task force, formed by Nixon a year ago and co-chaired by Peacock and Bob Blitz." In the long run, Kroenke’s meeting with Nixon "may be nothing more than attempting to meet NFL relocation guidelines." But the meeting "may also signal a thaw in relations between Kroenke and Nixon" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/1). The AP's Summer Ballentine noted the governor and Kroenke "met the same day lawmakers blasted plans for a new stadium during a House Budget Committee hearing in Jefferson City." Nixon's push for a new stadium "has frustrated some lawmakers, who either want a say in the matter or want such a plan to go to a vote of the people" (AP, 11/30).
GREEN MEANS GO: In L.A., Sam Farmer notes typically each December, the league's owners "convene for a one-day meeting on labor issues." But for this week's meeting in Irving, Texas, the "main topic of conversation" will be the L.A. situation. The league's various committees will meet today, and the owners "will gather" tomorrow "for closed-door meetings at a resort." Exactly what the league plans to decide at the meetings "is unclear." There "aren't presentations scheduled, so it's likely to be more discussions on who should get the green light to return" to L.A. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that he "would like to see an L.A. vote take place in January or February, in time for a decision to be made" on the '16 season, and for the relocated team(s) to "begin selling tickets in the new market" (L.A. TIMES, 12/1).
TEA TIME: In Boston, Ben Volin wonders "what to make of the Rams’ decision to play a home game in London next year." The Rams are "eyeing a relocation" to L.A., and while losing a home game to London "isn’t the best way to cultivate a new fan base, playing overseas would be more palatable if the Rams know they’re going to be playing in a temporary stadium" in L.A. next year (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/1).
ESCAPING CRITICISM: In San Diego, Chris Jenkins wrote it is "almost inconceivable," the way Chargers Chair Dean Spanos has "worn a virtual cloak of invisibility throughout much of the team’s exhaustive attempt to get a new stadium, a monumental, tooth-pulling ordeal now well into its second decade." While the family name is "identified with the Chargers," Spanos has "maintained a submarine-low profile" as his club "suffers disaster after disaster most every weekend this season." That has "only served to further alienate San Diego from Spanos." Jenkins: "And vice versa." After roughly a dozen years of "grappling over the questions of who’d pay for the new stadium and where, the Chargers have presented the sense that they’re ready to move" to L.A., but "still hopeful they don’t have to." Spanos is the "natural choice as villain by those who perceive that the team really wants out of town." He is "basically set up to be cast in the same scorned, cursing breath" as late Rams Owner Georgia Frontiere in L.A., late Colts Owner Robert Irsay in Baltimore and late Browns Owner Art Modell in Cleveland (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 11/30).
