ESPN's longform on the Ram's move to LA

[the Talking Can]

The stage was now set for a showdown. On Aug. 11, 2015, the league's owners convened at the Hyatt Regency, in a Chicago suburb, for a special LA meeting. For the first time, both sides presented their proposals.

The Carson team went first. During its presentation, Grubman paced in the back of the conference room, drinking coffee.

The Rams contingent went next. Grubman moved to the front of the room and took a seat at the commissioner's table. The presenters showed off a model of their football oasis, and Mark Davis stared at it in awe.

Saints owner Tom Benson posed the first question about Inglewood, asking why owners should defray the costs of the extra real estate developments -- up to $200 million in league loans available for new stadiums -- that would benefit only Kroenke. But before Kroenke and Demoff could say a word, Grubman jumped in to answer the question, explaining that Benson misunderstood the amount of money the league would contribute.

The pro-Carson owners couldn't believe that a league official appeared to be speaking on behalf of the Rams' proposal. That moment, along with persistent rumors that Grubman wanted to work for Kroenke in Los Angeles, cemented in the minds of some owners that he was an agent for Inglewood.

Later in the meeting, Bears chairman George McCaskey asked whether Kroenke would be willing to share the stadium with a second team. Kroenke reminded the owners of a 2012 memo from Goodell that mandated that any LA stadium be built to house two teams. Kroenke said he could quickly draw up a lease if necessary.

Some of the owners on the NFL's six-person Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities -- Richardson, Rooney, John Mara of the Giants, Robert Kraft of the Patriots, Clark Hunt of the Chiefs and Bob McNair of the Texans, most of whom were considered the old guard and supported Carson -- were offended. Spanos' family had always put the league first, and now Kroenke had declared that if it were necessary to take on a second team, the Chargers would be relegated to a tenant, junior-partner status. Kroenke considered his invitation to be sincere. He had extended a hand as far as he could, given the agreement between Spanos and Davis for Carson.

Before the meeting ended, Jones, as would be his habit, took control. He delivered a rollicking, profanity-laced eight-minute endorsement of Kroenke's monumental vision, saying in his Arkansas drawl that whichever owner returned to Los Angeles, he needed to have "big balls."

It was awkward and hilarious. Everyone, including Kroenke, tried not to laugh. But it was also a welcomed sentiment for the new-money owners such as Dan Snyder of the Redskins and Jeffrey Lurie of the Eagles, who backed Inglewood. "If you want to do it right," Jones continued, "you have to step up."

With a final vote scheduled for Jan. 12, 2016, in Houston, only five months away, the Carson supporters knew they were in trouble. Making matters worse, Spanos and Davis had argued with each other about Carson earlier that day in front of other owners. Still, Jones sensed Spanos had enough support to prevent Kroenke from going to Los Angeles alone. After the meeting, Jones approached Spanos on the tarmac where a handful of owners had parked their planes.

"I want you in LA with Stan," Jones told Spanos.

Spanos was noncommittal. He had no interest in partnering with Kroenke.

Meanwhile, a few old-guard owners had another idea to help their friend. If Carson was going to succeed, the project needed a star.

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/stor...ck-los-angeles

[big nasty kcnut]

Read and thought that it was a huge cluster**** there. Also koreke is a bitch nizzle!

[the Talking Can]

still reading

At 9 the next morning, 32 owners -- or, in a handful of cases, their representatives -- entered the Azalea Ballroom on the Westin's fourth floor. Each person settled into a large leather chair for a session that league officials had warned could take two days, though the owners nearly all hoped to get out of town that evening and pocket their share of the relocation fees, $17.7 million or $35.5 million, depending on whether one or two teams moved.

The Rams won a coin flip and presented first. Over 35 minutes, Demoff offered details about how a potential partnership would work, showing how the stadium would use digitized screens to show the logos, sponsors and Ring of Fame for either team, solving the dual-branding problem. It was a big reversal for Kroenke, but many owners found it to be sincere and attractive and, most of all, exactly what they wanted to hear.

On behalf of Carson, Iger went next. He tried to "break the ice," he says now, with a joke about how in his 42 years at ABC and Disney, he had paid more money to the NFL than anyone else. The quip was met with blank stares. For about 20 minutes, Iger spoke with a slideshow behind him, then ended with another prepared line, a spin-off of the famous commercial of the Super Bowl MVP shouting, "I'm going to Disney World!" "I hope I'm going to the NFL!" Iger said. Again, silence.

After Iger left the ballroom and returned to his suite, Jones said, "He said he paid us. Last time I checked, that money is coming from Disney shareholders, not him."

The message was unmistakable: NFL owners listen only to each other.

The owners first voted on whether to opt for a secret ballot, a rarely used method some owners had quietly requested back in August. It won, 19-13. Then the owners moved to a debate period. Paul Allen of the Seahawks opened the discussion by asking everyone to forget about the teams and the personalities involved and ask, What's the best site? Let's work backward from there. One owner then reminded everyone that Carson "is literally a dump." Still, the Los Angeles committee recommended Carson by a 5-1 vote, with only Hunt dissenting.

[the Talking Can]

In the lobby of the Westin after the news conference, Jerry Jones exited an elevator, carrying a nearly empty glass of whiskey, looking both energized and relieved. Though he deeply believed that the vote reflected the league's best interest, Jones had engineered the defeat of one of the most beloved owners by one of the shrewdest. A few feet away at the hotel bar, some owners took turns consoling Spanos. He felt as if he'd been stabbed in the back. Someone suggested that he should pull a Kroenke and move to Carson anyway. Spanos didn't want to hear it. A few weeks later, Kroenke would announce that he had reached an agreement to partner with the Chargers in Inglewood. On the same day, Spanos said his team would stay in San Diego for the 2016 season, adding, "I hope for the long term in a new stadium." In a referendum this November, Spanos will ask San Diego voters to approve hundreds of millions in public money for a new stadium, a long shot. This gambit all but assures that the ugly process, and uncertainty hanging over two NFL cities in California with old stadiums, will continue at least another year. Jones, though, was unapologetically proud. He had helped at least double the Rams' franchise value, ranked at a league-low $930 million in 2014 by Forbes, and had given Spanos the chance to increase the value of the Chargers if he chose to move to Inglewood. The race for LA was always a race for money, and so it ended the only way it could. "Stan is a tremendous asset for the NFL," Jones said. "He's God-sent, really."

A few hours later, at Vallone's steakhouse, Jones, Kroenke and a handful of associates held court. It was nearly 1 a.m., and they had an entire section of the restaurant to themselves. Kroenke's move, which in some ways began with a steak dinner with Spanos in 2013, was ending with another. Every five minutes or so, Jones would stop the conversation, raise his glass and say, "The Los Angeles Rams," as if none of them could quite believe it.

Jerry Jones f'd Spanos in the a...

[notorious]

My best friend is from Carson. He said it was a shithole.

[Easy 6]

LA can have that asshole and his team, the real St Louis team moved to Arizona anyway

[Toby Waller]

Originally Posted by Easy 6

LA can have that asshole and his team, the real St Louis team moved to Arizona anyway

Grudge much?

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by smellypitts

Grudge much?

No, they've never been my team, but I live nearby so maybe have more than a passing interest

Said in this forum very recently that St Louisans are largely to blame for losing their team... but that doesnt make Kroenke or the NFL any less greedy