Photograph by Steve Jurvetson, courtesy Wikimedia Commons
The plot thickens in Los Angeles.
Sports giant AEG has pulled itself off the market and reasserted as a "priority project" the pursuit of a downtown NFL stadium named Farmers Field, and the story has two St. Louis angles:
1) Longtime CEO and President Tim Leiweke—a St. Louis native who graduated from Parkway West High School—has parted company from AEG "by mutual agreement." No reasons were provided, but just last week anonymous sources were declaring AEG's grandiose stadium plan dead, in a report published by Yahoo Sports, and Leiweke had served as the point man for getting that deal done.
2) Bringing an NFL franchise or two to Los Angeles apparently remains high on the radar of AEG's owner, Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, who happens to be both a friend and business partner of fellow Denver billionaire (and Rams owner) Stan Kroenke. Anschutz is reportedly taking a more "active role" in his company.
There's no way to know from afar what this means for the future of the NFL and Farmers Field. Leiweke has been the publicly gung-ho mover-and-shaker behind the deal—with Anschutz reportedly reluctant at best about building the stadium—but the announcement of the AEG shakeup went to great lengths to reaffirm the company's commitment to getting the NFL deal done. Was Leiweke shown the door because of an inability to close the deal, or will the deal finally die because its passionate backer is gone? Who knows?
This is the point at which the likes of me hear cries of "Chicken Little" for pointing out that this cannot be comforting news for those of us who would like to see the Rams stay put in St. Louis. The Rams played 49 years in Los Angeles before playing here during the past 17 years, and the Rams are widely viewed—outside St. Louis' sports media—as one of the most likely franchises to move to L.A. if a deal can get done there. It doesn't help that Kroenke recently won his free agency in an arbitration triumph that effectively frees him from his stadium lease in St. Louis after 2014.
Getting a team or two to Los Angeles remains a complex task for Anschutz, who has proposed using private funds to construct the $1 billion-plus project adjacent to his gigantic LA Live entertainment complex. A deal with an NFL franchise (or two) would have to make financial sense for at least three parties: the developer, the NFL team moving to Los Angeles, and the NFL itself (meaning the other owners).
Not being a billionaire, or even a minor sports-franchise mogul, I concede that these financing issues are well above my pay grade. This distinguishes me from local sports journalists and bloggers, who speak with great confidence and clarity about how simple these matters are. And they have concluded that it is not possible.
Leiweke has been quoted as saying that AEG had already invested as much as $50 million on the Farmers Field project so far. That's presumably to have covered the planning, environmental studies, the $700 million naming-rights deal, and the clearing of several rounds of governmental approvals at the city and state levels. But there's no deal struck with an NFL team, and with none on the horizon, this can only mean one thing: The multi-billion-dollar conglomerate has no idea what it's doing, and it could have saved $50 million by consulting with sportswriters, who could have informed the company that the whole thing is simply impossible.
Or not.
For me, I'll continue to cluck. I have no conspiracy theory, nor a prediction, regarding the Rams (or any other NFL team) moving to Los Angeles. But as a Rams fan and PSL holder since Day One, here are some worrisome thoughts about AEG's intense interest in bringing the NFL back to Los Angeles at Farmers Field:
• I think the world's largest sports-and-entertainment company can figure this out. I think there's a deal to be done, one that you and I and the sportswriters haven't thought of, and wouldn't understand if it were presented to us.
• I don't think it's a great thing that one of Kroenke's friends and business partners is doing this. Again, no conspiracy theory here, just this: Wouldn't it be better if someone who was not a friend, business partner, and "fellow Denver billionaire" was the guy with a renewed interest in doing this deal?
• I'm not at all comforted that the Rams are not publicly suggesting the team would even consider a move to Los Angeles. The team's trying to sell tickets, suites, and sponsorships every day. It's staying for at least two more years, maybe more. It doesn't know for sure that a better deal will come its way or, if so, when. There is not a single business or legal reason for the team to do anything but appear to be trying to prosper as the St. Louis Rams. But that doesn't mean the team wouldn't leave if greener pastures became available.
• I'm not listening to anything that the NFL says or leaks. According to local sportswriters, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is St. Louis' biggest fan, has always had affection for this city, and would be horrified if St. Louis lost its second franchise in a quarter of a century. But the same guy, we're told, cannot be trusted at all when it comes to his public pronouncements (and private actions) with regard to the importance of bringing the NFL back to Los Angeles. No, you see, the NFL secretly wants to keep the nation's second-largest market forever vacant as a bargaining chip for its owners to use in hometown negotiations. We should trust Goodell about St. Louis, but think he's lying about Los Angeles? Really?
Oh well. Time to go back to focusing on what really matters on the St. Louis sports scene—like the Rams passing on the free agents you've heard of and signing the ones you haven't.
Or better yet, there's hockey and Cardinals spring training.
