The Rams on Saturday will host the Cowboys in their preseason opener, and the game will be "symbolic," as Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones was "instrumental in convincing fellow owners" to buy into Rams Owner Stan Kroenke's vision of returning an NFL team to Southern California, according to Sam Farmer of the L.A. TIMES. Jones said of his role, "The process was arduous. It unnecessarily pitted to some degree of ownership against each other. But if you waited ... you'd miss the damn train. We had a time and place there with the Rams, with the ability to relocate to Los Angeles, the resources, the economic timing, to do it right. It was all right there." Jones added, "I believed in (the Inglewood plan) for all the right reasons. It was lifting the Cowboys, as well as every other team in the league." Jones also spoke of his strong connection to both the Chargers and Raiders organizations and said, "What we did was in the best interest of both of those franchises" (L.A. TIMES, 8/12). Bills Owner Terry Pegula said, "After looking at what Stan Kroenke's plans are, we supported Stan's move there. He's going to build the greatest sports complex on the planet. I mean, it's going to be quite a place. To me, that's the team to go back, the team that left" (BUFFALO NEWS, 8/12).
LICENSE TO ILL: HBO's Bill Simmons on his show this week discussed the Rams moving back to L.A. and the concept of PSLs. Simmons noted the Rams this weekend "kick off a three-year stint at the beaten down L.A. Coliseum, their temporary home until Stan Kroenke's billion-dollar dome is ready." That comes "just in time for a whole new generation of fair-weather L.A. football fans. Only one problem.” A news report aired noting the majority of Rams tickets will require a PSL, with Simmons defining a PSL as a “massive surcharge for the right to buy season tickets." He said, "It's like a price tag on the price tag. Niners fans payed up to $80,000 for PSLs, Cowboys fans paid up to $150,000 for PSLs. Atlanta is battling a zombie apocalypse, they still bought 30,000 PSLs." Simmons later added, "Nobody feels worse than St. Louis fans. They own PSLs for a Rams team that suddenly ditched them and their PSLs don't even transfer to that new L.A. Stadium that doesn't exist yet. At least they can enjoy watching L.A. fans get screwed by PSLs again” (“Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons,” HBO, 8/10).
JUST PROSPECTING: In Reno, Seth Richardson notes Raiders officials on Wednesday met with local lawmakers to "pitch their plan to relocate to Las Vegas, including a new stadium and possibly holding training camp in Reno." Meetings have so far been "primarily in Las Vegas," but officials made the trip to Reno to brief lawmakers in the northern part of the state. Reps from the Raiders, including team President Mark Badain, "scouted several possible training camp locations if the move occurs," including the Univ. of Nevada, area high schools and sports complexes (RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL, 8/12). Raiders Owner Mark Davis said, "We're looking at some sites up there and checking things out" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 8/12).
