Calling Rams Owner Stan Kroenke’s attack on the economy and fan support of St. Louis “unbecoming” and “cruel,” the St. Louis stadium task force, as well as the city convention authority, wrote to the NFL on Friday to vigorously rebut the Rams' relocation proposal made earlier this week. The letter was sent to all 32 team owners, Commissioner Roger Goodell and other league execs. “We were not prepared ... for the cruel attack and false claims made by our local team owner, to his League peers, in an attempt to punish and embarrass St. Louis -- a city whose residents and businesses have loyally supported the Rams for more than two decades,” the letter reads. It continues, “No matter the justification for relocation -- and the falsehoods in the Statement of Reasons strongly suggest the Rams have no justification to vacate St. Louis -- the style in which their point was made was unprecedented, personal, groundless and unbecoming of a steward representing what we feel is the greatest professional sports league in the world.” Kroenke contended in his relocation proposal St. Louis had a weak economy and the proposed riverfront stadium would financially ruin the team. In the letter, the task force wrote it has not seen the evidence for that, and by its estimates, the team would earn a profit each year. Also, the taskforce laid out step-by-step how Kroenke had not met the league’s relocation bylaws, taking strong issue with the owner’s contention he had.
THROUGH THICK AND THIN: The letter also pointed out that though the team has performed at historically poor levels on the field over the last decade, fans still supported it. “The St. Louis Rams have won only 50 games in the last 10 years, with zero winning seasons,” the letter said. “The Los Angeles Rams won 71 games during their final 10 seasons in Los Angeles, with four winning seasons. Yet, football fans in St. Louis attended games in greater numbers than Los Angeles fans during those respective time periods, despite St. Louis having a smaller economic market and a much smaller population.” NFL owners meet next week to potentially approve relocation to L.A.
