With the city of St. Louis and the NFL scrambling to throw more money at a new stadium proposal, it seems the chances of Stan Kroenke loading up his truck and moving to Beverly (Hills, that is) are waning.
And at least one owner thinks it’s not looking good for him.
Texans owner Bob McNair said the current proposal for a new stadium in St. Louis was close to being enough of an offer to make him think they should stay put.
“St. Louis, they have come up with a proposal that is getting pretty close, in my opinion, to being an attractive proposal,” McNair said, via Brian Smith of the Houston Chronicle. “And if they do come up with an attractive proposal, then in my view, my personal opinion, I don’t think the Rams will receive the approval to relocate. So that would mean then you’d have two teams, San Diego and Oakland, that would be going into Carson. They have a partnership to build a stadium.”
The tide seemed to start turning against Kroenke’s bid months ago, when a group of owners including Jerry Richardson of the Panthers, came out in support of the Carson project instead of Kroenke’s attempt to take the Rams to a place he wants to build in Inglewood.
McNair, however, seems to view the chance of a new stadium in St. Louis as a chance to rescue two teams which have fallen behind in the facilities arms race.
He called the Chargers and Raiders homes “the two worst stadiums in the league,” and that’s hard to argue.
Of course, it’s far from a done deal, and the financing for St. Louis might not be either.
Via Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Daily, the extra $100 million in sort-of contributions from the NFL aren’t finalized, and won’t be until a vote Friday.
With a January vote looming, it’s clear the negotiations are picking up pace, with loads of money and the future of three franchises in the balance.