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Future ownership of Rams in doubt
By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, Jan. 19 2008
Dale "Chip" Rosenbloom grew up surrounded by Rams football. Now he's about to
own the team — but for how long?
With the death of Georgia Frontiere, her son and daughter will inherit the
Rams. Rosenbloom, 43, is a filmmaker; Lucia Rodriguez, 46, a wife and mother.
Both live in Los Angeles.
They will split the 60 percent share of the team owned by Frontiere, but per
league rule, only one person can have the controlling share. And that person is
Rosenbloom.
Those close to Rosenbloom say he has some sense of obligation to his deceased
father to keep the Rams franchise in the family. (When Carroll Rosenbloom
drowned in a swimming accident in 1979, wife Georgia — Chip's mother — took
control of the team.)
The problem is that Rosenbloom has a full career — not to mention a wife and
two children — in Los Angeles. In fact, with six Rosenbloom movies released or
in production in the past three years, the movie business has never been better
for him.
Among his movie credits are "Girl in the Park" (starring Sigourney Weaver),
"Alice Upside Down" and the Shiloh trilogy, three popular children's movies
about a boy and his beagle. Rosenbloom usually produces movies, but he also has
directed and written screenplays. He even wrote a song for his 1990 release:
"Instant Karma."
Rosenbloom has an environmental movie about alternative energy — "Fields of
Fuel" — set to premier at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Despite the demands of his career, Rosenbloom has been active behind the scenes
with the Rams for years. He meets with the team's president, John Shaw,
regularly and has attended several league meetings.
Even in his younger years, Rosenbloom always seemed to be around the team:
— He was there when Chuck Knox was offered the Rams' head coaching job in 1983.
(Knox ended up going to Seattle, although he returned for a second stint with
the Rams in 1992.)
— He was there in September 1994, when the Save the Rams group of Orange County
made a renovation proposal to team officials to keep the Rams at Anaheim
Stadium. Rosenbloom asked several "pointed" questions during the meeting,
according to the Los Angeles Times.
— Less than a year later, in March 1995, he was there when NFL owners initially
voted down the Rams' proposed move to St. Louis.
As Rams owner, Rosenbloom wouldn't suddenly become a hands-on owner like the
Washington Redskins' Dan Snyder. Those who know Rosenbloom say he feels a great
sense of responsibility in making it work in St. Louis, and he wants the team's
fans to know that ownership cares.
But because of his career and family interests in Los Angeles, it may be
inevitable that he sells the team. Those who know Rosenbloom say he would be in
no hurry to make a decision and that a sale won't be forced upon the family.
If the team is put up for sale, minority owner Stan Kroenke has the right of
first refusal. Kroenke owns 40 percent of the Rams, a franchise valued at $908
million, according to Forbes. But because Kroenke now owns the NBA's Denver
Nuggets and the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, the NFL's cross-ownership rule would
prevent him from taking majority ownership of the Rams.
The cross-ownership rule reads as follows:
"No person who owns a majority interest in, or has direct or indirect operating
control of an NFL member club, may own or acquire any interest in a club in
another major team sport (baseball, basketball, hockey), except for a club
located in: a.) his/her NFL club's home city, or b.) a non-NFL city that is not
a potential NFL city."
Obviously, Denver also is home to the NFL Broncos team. So under the
cross-ownership rules, Kroenke would not be eligible to have majority ownership
in the Rams unless he divested himself of the Avalanche and Nuggets.
Kroenke is thought to be interested in owning a majority interest in the Rams.
Rosenbloom likes Kroenke. And apparently the league does as well. In the spring
of 1995, when the Rams' intended move to St. Louis was drawing heavy resistance
from the league, some league owners and officials briefly discussed the idea
that Frontiere should sell the club to Kroenke as a precondition to approving
the move.
So the league might be willing to work with Kroenke on the cross-ownership
issue, but it would take time. Even though he is part owner, if Kroenke became
majority owner, it would require a league vote.
No such vote is necessary for Rosenbloom. Under league rule, if an owner "dies
... such membership may be transferred to a member of the 'immediate family' of
the deceased without requiring the consent or approval of the members of the
league."
__________________
"I would much rather have a bottle in front of me than a
frontal lobotomy"!!
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