The L.A. Rams Again?

Last week the NFL confirmed that the St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke has purchased a 60-acre tract of land in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Inglewood. It is known that Kroenke made his money as a land developer so this may just be another investment by the Kroenke Group but there are some people who are coming to the conclusion that this may be the first step in returning the Rams to Los Angeles.

 Fans have to admit that his timing does seem suspicious, the Rams’ lease with the Edward Jones Dome contains an escape clause that goes in to affect after 2014 that makes the lease year-to-year beginning in 2015 unless the Dome is upgraded to one of the Top 8 NFL venues. This upgrade is expected to be somewhere in the $700 million range, a price that neither St. Louis nor Missouri want to cover, at least not without guarantees.

If the Rams do return to Los Angeles the team’s value increases significantly almost immediately, a fact that is not lost on Kroenke. But does this move also bump up the Rams’ players up the collectability scale? There is no doubt that moving to the #2 media market will increase the player’s visibility but there will still be the question of winning. Going 51-108-1 over the past 10 seasons, it will not matter where the team is located, the collectors will tend to ignore your cards.

The Rams do have potential though with some young players like Bradford, Austin and Stacy. They just need to win.