Photography by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images
The Rams paints a glowing picture of owner Stan Kroenke and his investment into on-the-field performance before reminding the NFL of St. Louis’ low attendance numbers and ticket revenues.
We’re not rich enough. We’re not dedicated enough. And there aren’t enough of us.
Those are just a few of the reasons the ownership of the Rams offers in its application to move the team from St. Louis to Los Angeles.
The 29-page document characterizes St. Louis as a “struggling” city without enough people, funds, or other resources to keep any NFL team, let alone the Rams. The application’s scathing analysis of St. Louis’ economic prospects made national headlines, such as this report from the Washington Post, titled “Rams owner’s application to relocate to Los Angeles just crushes St. Louis.”
See also: John Oliver’s Message to St. Louis Rams Fans: Make Kroenke Pay for New Stadium
Fans and St. Louis authorities fought back against the team’s characterization of its current home.
Dave Peacock, the business leader tapped by Gov. Jay Nixon to chair the riverfront stadium task force, tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the team cherry-picked statistics it needed to build its case for leaving.
“And that’s probably not surprising,” Peacock said. “Their job is not to give a balanced argument.”
SLM read through the Rams’ application. Here are five reasons the team gives for wanting to leave St. Louis:
1. The Edward Jones Dome isn’t good enough.
The Rams’ application trashes the Dome, which it says “is rated by Sports Illustrated and ESPN NFL Nation as the worst stadium in the NFL, and by Time Magazine the ‘7th worst stadium in all sports in the United States.’”
“The Dome’s concourses and premium lounges were too small, club seats were inadequate, points of sale per patron amenities too few, and video boards and media were below standard.”
The application says the Dome, unlike other NFL stadiums, doesn’t offer enough premium amenities to convince fans to watch the game in person rather than on TV.
“The Dome was simply too small, too dark and too obsolete to be First Tier.”
2. The proposed NFL stadium isn’t good enough, either.
Image courtesy of HOK
St. Louis' proposed stadium
The Rams dedicate an entire section of the application to listing why no NFL club, including the Rams, would want to sign the lease on the new stadium proposed for St. Louis’s riverfront.
“Even the most cursory analysis of the St. Louis financial proposal makes no economic sense for an NFL team,” the team says in the application.
The application says the Rams would be responsible for at least $710 million in private financing, resulting in “a negative cash flow of $7.5 million” with only $355 million coming from the public—$45 million less than the stadium task force had promised.
“On opening, the [proposed riverfront] stadium will rank as a 4th quartile gate revenue stadium,” according to the application. “All of the costs of stadium operations and Capital Expenditures funding have been shifted to the NFL Club for the next 30 years. There are no new local revenue streams to pay for the increased costs.”
3. St. Louis is too small and poor.
There’s not enough money in the Lou to attract an NFL team, especially when cities in California are on the table, the application says, citing a study that projects St. Louis will rank No. 26 in growth among NFL markets. The Rams says moving away from St. Louis would strengthen the league overall.
“St. Louis lags, and will continue to lag, far behind in the economic drivers that are necessary for sustained success of an NFL franchise...St. Louis is already the smallest market of the three in both population and gross domestic product before factoring in future growth.”
The report also cites the 2015 U.S. Mayor’s Report, which ranks St. Louis No. 245 out of 381 cities in projected economic growth, ranking it No. 29 among NFL Markets while Oakland ranked No. 3 and San Diego ranked No. 12.
4. St. Louis fans don’t support the team enough.
This one may come as a surprise to the die-hard Rams fans who thought their devotion would be enough to keep the team here. In the application, the Rams says St. Louis lacks the “necessary corporate and fan support to sustain a NFL team long term,” meaning that not enough St. Louisans are showing support by opening their wallets.
The team lists several reasons for why it feels St. Louisans aren’t doing enough to support the Rams: They’re unwilling to buy season tickets once they know how much they’ll cost; they consider the Cardinals, not the Rams, to be the most important sports team in the city; they’re put off by owner Stan Kroenke’s efforts to obtain a “First Tier stadium;” and they don’t buy season tickets when the team’s on-field success drops.
The team paints a glowing picture of Kroenke and his investment into on-the-field performance before reminding the NFL of St. Louis’ low attendance numbers and ticket revenues.
5. There aren’t enough people in St. Louis.
“Compared to all other U.S. cities, St. Louis is struggling.”
That’s how the Rams characterizes St. Louis’ declining population. Citing local media coverage of a study from WalletHub, the application says St. Louis “had the lowest rate of population growth of any major U.S. city from 2008 to 2014—registering a loss of 1.74 percent of its citizens while most cities registered gains.”
“Compared with Oakland and San Diego, St. Louis is projected to have relatively flat population growth” in the next two decades, the report says, citing a Charles River Associates study.
St. Louis isn’t just losing population in the city, according to the application. The team cites a Post-Dispatch report showing that the county lost 50,000 people and $3.41 billion in resident income between 2001 and 2010.
Contact Lindsay Toler by an email at LToler@stlmag.com or on Twitter @StLouisLindsay. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
