Via Youtube/Last Week Tonight
John Oliver tells St. Louis Rams fans not to put up with their team owner's ploys for a new stadium.
Take a knee, St. Louis. Coach and comedian John Oliver has a rousing halftime speech just for you.
The former Daily Show with Jon Stewart correspondent tackled public financing of sport stadiums in the latest episode of his HBO show Last Week Tonight. It's a contentious subject here in St. Louis, where Rams owner Stan Kroenke is threatening to pull his team to Los Angeles unless he gets a new stadium. Residents have sued to stop St. Louis from extending bonds to pay for a new riverfront stadium without a public vote.
See also: Gov. Jay Nixon’s Stadium Misdirection Play
Oliver calls Kroenke’s threat to leave St. Louis “the ultimate bargaining chip” teams use to get funding for the stadiums they want.
“Right now, the Oakland Raiders, the St. Louis Rams, and the San Diego Chargers are all threatening to leave to Los Angeles unless they get new stadiums,” Oliver says. “In fact, over the past two decades nearly half the NFL has been subject to speculation about a move to Los Angeles.”
Even EA Sports’ latest video game based on the NFL, Madden 16, lets players move cities to get better stadiums, Oliver notes. The game even suggests Los Angeles as a destination, saying “they’ll pay $783M of your stadium costs.”
“Oh, come on, even my make-believe, escapist entertainment is trying to move my f—cking team to L.A.,” Oliver says while impersonating a Chargers fan (though he could easily have been poking fun of a diehard Rams fan.)
After explaining the more infuriating details about stadium financing, Oliver changes into a windbreaker and begins a stirring halftime speech to a locker room filled with fans of NFL teams.
“We should not be using public money to pay” for stadiums, says Oliver, doing his best Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights. “Yeah, teams might threaten to leave you. That might happen. But I happen to believe that your cities are more than just the teams that happen to play there.”
To prove his point, Oliver has three Rams fans stand.
“Stand up, St. Louis, and look at me,” Oliver says. “You’re more than just the Rams. You’re more than just the Rams. You’re a proud Midwestern metropolis. You’re the home of the St. Louis Arch.”
Well, it’s the Gateway Arch, but you see where he’s going. The point is, sports don’t define St. Louis (although baseball comes close).
“I want you all to get out there and next time a team comes around asking for a new stadium, I want you to make them pay,” Oliver says.
Follow Lindsay Toler on Twitter @StLouisLindsay or send her an email at LToler@stlmag.com. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
