St. Louis Rams Moving Cities?

ST. LOUIS – After the first day of February comes to a close, the St. Louis Rams will have a better idea of their team’s status for the long-term future. That day is a deadline for the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission to figure out how they can make the Edward Jones Dome a first-tier stadium before 2015.

If they don’t figure it out, the lease may be broken and the Rams could move before the 2015 season, but after the 2014 season. However, if a plan is presented to the Rams, the Rams would have one month to contemplate the offer.

Arbitration would start in the middle of June if the Rams decline the offer and the process could last until this December.

Stan Kroenke, owner of the St. Louis Rams (and several other sports teams) and a native of Missouri, helped bring the Rams to St. Louis seventeen years back. But now people are questioning his loyalty to St. Louis.

He owns an estate in Malibu, California, is likely interested in buying the Los Angeles Dodgers and has not committed that he wants the Rams to stay. This next move could be good for the franchise because it gives the Rams national TV coverage, but could be an indicator that Kroenke wants to move cities.

Kroenke made certain that his team would be the first to play a home game in London for the next three seasons. The keyword is home. Basically, the Rams will have only seven home games for the next three years because of this deal that was done.

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Due to the fact that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wants a team in London in the future and Kroenke owns a large part of the English soccer team Arsenal, there is even a possibility that the Rams could be that European team that Goodell is wanting.

Just yesterday, the SLC&VC just stated that the stadium lease forbids the Rams to play any home games outside of the Edward Jones Dome. Because this is a new story, we are still waiting on word from Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ COO. It is very possible that the Rams might not play any “home” games in London anymore.

In other news, Wednesday was the day that the Rams announced the hiring of the assistant head coach. Dave McGinnis, former Arizona Cardinals head coach, was hired by Jeff Fisher because he worked on Fisher’s staff for the past seven years, not including last season.

McGinnis was the defensive coordinator of the Cardinals for five seasons until 2000, in which he became the head coach of the same team for four seasons, but had a record of 17-40. Fisher has spoken highly of his knowledge and experience.

By Trevor Roe
ProFootball-fans.com St. Louis Rams Correspondent