After St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke finished pitching his proposed Inglewood, Calif., stadium last week to his fellow owners, the first question from the floor came from New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson, who wanted to know why he should care about all the glitz and glamour the stadium would sell.
But right after Benson’s comments, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones spoke up, saying that it took a lot of financial fortitude to try to build a nearly $2 billion stadium as envisioned by Kroenke. The two owners’ comments, so different in tone, were described by sources in the room.
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Jerry Jones spoke up for L.A. hopeful Stan Kroenke in a meeting last week, sources say.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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As the NFL potentially nears the end of its two-decade quest to return to Los Angeles, the league faces a sticky process that could pit owner against owner, as three teams vie for, at most, two slots. The Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers want to build a stadium in Carson, Calif.
“This is a high-stakes game of musical chairs,” said Amy Trask, the former Raiders CEO who now lives in Los Angeles. “A very high-stakes game.”
Perhaps cognizant of the jockeying going on, the six-owner committee on Los Angeles opportunities rejected a proposal from league consultant Legends that a Los Angeles ticket deposit program require fans to select one of the three teams. Instead, fans can submit, likely for a fee of $75, a request for a season ticket to a generic Los Angeles team.
Had the Legends proposal gone through, the deposit program could have become almost a contest among the three teams to see which could amass the most deposits as the deadline nears to file for relocation.
“There will be turmoil for awhile,” said David Moross, an equity fund manager who is close to several NFL owners and executives. “It is going to be arguably the most valuable franchise in the NFL, so it is almost ravenous wanting this franchise.”
The contest to land a spot in Los Angeles includes three owners of varying degrees of experience and influence. Dean Spanos, the Chargers’ owner, is well-regarded in ownership circles and has run key committees. Kroenke has not been active in NFL committees and, from the outside, can appear aloof and secretive. The Raiders’ owner, Mark Davis, has not been in the league as long as the other two, making the political process within the owners circle seem to be mostly a Spanos versus Kroenke dynamic.
Insiders say that if it were merely a popularity contest, Spanos would win. But other factors can come into play.
If Kroenke’s site in Inglewood can make much more money than the Carson site, for example, other owners might be swayed because some of that would be shared with them. If the local St. Louis stadium process fell apart, that would make Kroenke’s position look better, putting him on par with the troubled stadium situations in Oakland and San Diego.
Like any game of politics, this one could involve horse-trading, machinations and deal making. There is still a long way to go, with owner meetings set for October and December, before the January deadline to submit relocation bids. Seventy-five percent of owners must approve a relocation bid, meaning even a minority of owners could block a proposal.
As Trask warned, “It only takes nine owners to kill the prospects of another owner. I don’t think the league wants it to become that ugly.”
