Rams Owner Stan Kroenke, sitting for his first interview since his plan for an Inglewood stadium became public more than a year ago, "discussed his final pitch to league owners, the emotional relocation process and his ambitious vision for the site of the former Hollywood Park racetrack," according to Farmer & Fenno of the L.A. TIMES. Kroenke "appeared relieved to put the drawn-out relocation process behind him and focus on the return of the Rams to the city they left" after the '94 season." He "seemed relaxed and confident and looked as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders." He said, "You don't get too many shots like this in life." More excerpts from the Q&A are below:
Q: After so many false starts and pretty pictures over the last 21 years, can you blame people who might doubt this will actually get built?
Kroenke: Oh, it's going to get built. At one point (Tuesday), I was going to tell the ownership about 4,500 pages of plans. [Rams Exec VP/Football Operations & COO Kevin Demoff] got up there and said, '6,700 pages of plans.' So I told the ownership, 'Wow. We were at 4,500 and now it's 6,700.' In other words, this costs real money.
Q: Owners have heard these stadium pitches before. What was your theme in Houston?
Demoff: We started our presentation by saying this is the project you've waited 21 years for. This was the NFL's greatest asset that they could give someone and they gave it to our group. That's an awesome responsibility.
Q: How did owners react?
Kroenke: At the end of the day they gave it to us for the right reasons. That's the right project. It's that simple. I heard a lot of owners say, "That's the right project. That's what we need."
Q: How do you feel about leaving St. Louis?
Kroenke: It truly is bittersweet. I grew up in Missouri, and there's a lot of wonderful people in St. Louis and Missouri. I'll always feel that way about Missouri. I never dreamed I'd be put in this position. But at the same time, you're not going to sit there and be a victim.
Q: You want to include the entertainment industry in the stadium experience?
Kroenke: That's part of L.A. You'd better be doing that. That's how you engage the community, frankly. If we're not doing that right, we're not servicing the fans of L.A. You go to L.A., you better do it right or you shouldn't be there. It's complex, it's complicated, it's a big market, there's a lot of competitive forces there (L.A. TIMES, 1/14).
