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  • #1

    Vote on Kroenke's Rams ownership plan could take place in summer

    Per NFL.com

    By Jason La Confora

    There won't be a vote on St. Louis Rams ownership at the upcoming league meetings, though it could come this summer, a source with knowledge of the situation said Tuesday.

    Billionaire Stan Kroenke, who owns 40 percent of the Rams, has exercised his right to purchase the full share, but he's facing cross-ownership issues because he also owns the NBA's Denver Nuggets and NHL's Colorado Avalanche. Kroenke has proposed transferring ownership of the Rams to his wife, Wal-Mart heiress Ann Walton Kroenke, as a way to conform with the league's regulations. That scenario was proposed to the NFL's Financial Committee last week when it met in New York.

    Kroenke's wife has sufficient wealth to operate the Rams, and one league insider suggested that her family had the wherewithal to purchase four teams given their financial strength.

    The league and its owners are considering the matter, but it won't be decided this month at the meetings in Dallas. However, with the next set of league meetings not scheduled until the fall, there is a good chance the NFL will schedule an additional summer meeting, the source said, providing a forum to update ownership on the latest developments with the labor negotiations, as well as potentially take a vote on Kroenke's plan.

    The key element would be how much time Kroenke proposes would be required to sell the other sports franchises. Somewhere around 12 months to 18 months likely would sit well with NFL owners, the source said, but a prolonged timetable would not. Kroenke also could attempt to transfer ownership of the non-NFL teams to other family members, but ultimately, any plan must comply with league rules and two-thirds of owners would have to vote in support of Kroenke's bid.

    Illinois businessman Shahid Khan reached an agreement with Rams owners Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez on Feb. 11 to buy the team. Khan said last month that he still would like to complete the deal "if the opportunity presents itself."
    Always and Forever a fan of the St. Louis Rams
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  • #2
    Re: Vote on Kroenke's Rams ownership plan could take place in summer

    If the NFL has a problem with cross ownership rules. I highly doubt they would allow his wife to buy the team. After all, it is a given(?) that Stan would still be the man behind the curtain. In affect, making Stan still the owner. Just not on paper.

    On the other hand, if the NFL wants to keep the rule and make it look as if they didn't bend for him... They may allow it to go through.. hmm
    The Rams... Where dreams go to die.

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    • MauiRam
      Vote on Kroenke could come Aug. 25th ..
      by MauiRam
      BY JIM THOMAS | Posted: Monday, July 26, 2010 12:27 pm

      Stan Kroenke's bid to purchase the 60-percent share of the St. Louis Rams currently for sale by siblings Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez appears to be approaching the finish line.

      The NFL's finance committee met via conference call last Thursday. According to Greg Aiello, the league's senior vice president of public relations, the committee discussed a variety of matters during the call, including the proposed sale of the Rams.

      A special league meeting has been scheduled for Aug. 25 in Atlanta, at which time the finance committee is expected to report to the full membership on the Rams sale.

      Barring the unexpected, league teams will vote on Kroenke's bid at the Atlanta meeting.

      "Everybody wants him as an owner, I can tell you," New Orleans owner Tom Benson, the chairman of the finance committee, told the Post-Dispatch in late May.
      -07-26-2010, 10:54 AM
    • Varg6
      Committee recommends approval of Kroenke's Rams bid
      by Varg6
      By Jim Thomas

      The NFL’s finance committee has unanimously recommended approval of Stan Kroenke’s Rams purchase bid, the Post-Dispatch has confirmed through several league sources.

      Short of the actual league vote itself, which takes place Wednesday in Atlanta, that’s a strong indication that the purchase will be approved.
      The finance committee will make its report and invite discussion Wednesday in Atlanta. At that time, Kroenke can comment or respond to questions as he chooses, and then the vote will take place.

      The entire approval process Wednesday may take only an hour or so, barring an unexpected hitch.

      Kroenke, 63, already owns 40 percent of the Rams. The Missouri native is attempting to purchase the 60 percent of the team currently held by Chip Rosenbloom and sister Lucia Rodriguez.

      ----

      Good news. Let's hope this is the start of a new and great era for the St. Louis Rams :helmet:
      -08-24-2010, 12:03 PM
    • Ramblin` Ram
      Khan seeks to join exclusive club
      by Ramblin` Ram
      Shahid Khan seeks to join exclusive club as owner of the St. Louis Rams

      BY JIM THOMAS
      ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
      03/21/2010

      By the end of May at the latest, Shahid Khan will learn whether he has gained admission into one of the wealthiest, most exclusive and, at the same time, most eclectic clubs in America as one of the 32 controlling owners of a National Football League team.

      "It is kind of a strange group," said a league insider. "Very strange. You know the group."

      It's a group that will convene Monday in Orlando, Fla., for the NFL's annual owners meetings, where Khan's bid to buy the Rams will be one of the items discussed.

      Among the exclusive club of owners, there's the old guard, such as the Halas/McCaskey family, which has been involved with what is now the Chicago Bears since the inception of the NFL in 1920.

      The Mara family founded the New York Giants in 1925, when Tim Mara (who was a bookmaker, among other things) and partner Billy Gibson bought the team for $500. The Maras have owned all or part of the franchise ever since.

      The Cardinals franchise, now based in Arizona and led by the shy Bill Bidwill, has been in the Bidwill family since 1932. In Pittsburgh, the Rooney family founded the Steelers with a $2,500 purchase on July 8, 1933.

      In Oakland, age is catching up with one of the league's all-time mavericks, Al Davis. He shows up for league meetings wearing either an all-white or all-black workout suit, now needing the use of a walker to get around. Then there's the frugal Mike Brown of Cincinnati, son of the late Paul Brown, a legendary coach and owner.

      There's also a new group of owners who entered the league beginning with the last wave of expansion in 1995. Wayne Weaver of the Jacksonville Jaguars made his money in shoes, rising through the ranks of the St. Louis-based Brown Group Inc. Paul Allen of the Seattle Seahawks co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1976.

      The Philadelphia Eagles' Jeffrey Lurie once was an assistant professor at Boston University. Steve Tisch, who owns half the New York Giants (the Mara family still owns the other half), may be the only person on the planet with a Super Bowl ring and an Academy Award (as co-producer of "Forrest Gump").

      Many of the owners inherited their fortunes. Some made theirs from humble beginnings. After Arthur Blank and friend Bernie Marcus were fired by the Handy Dan home-improvement chain in California in 1978, they opened a couple of similar stores in 1979. Thirteen-hundred Home Depot stores later, Blank bought the Atlanta Falcons in 2002.

      Maryland businessman Steve Bisciotti was only 39 when he bought 49 percent of the Baltimore Ravens in 2000. (He purchased an additional 50 percent of the team four years later.) When he opened his first business, the staffing...
      -03-21-2010, 07:14 AM
    • MauiRam
      Kroenke plays it close to the vest ..
      by MauiRam
      BY JIM THOMAS
      ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
      03/23/2010

      ORLANDO, FLA. — The day's business concluded, Stan Kroenke walked out of the NFL owners' meeting room Monday evening with Rams senior consultant John Shaw at his side.

      About the last person Kroenke wanted to see in this venue was a reporter. He has always been what's best described as media shy — and that's particularly the case now that Urbana, Ill., businessman Shahid Khan has entered into an agreement to purchase controlling interest in the Rams.

      So what will Stan do? Buy, sell or stand pat? Kroenke didn't tip his hand Monday, saying he continues to consider his options.


      "We're all talking about our different approaches here, trying to come up with the best approach for everyone involved, I think," Kroenke said.


      He also indicated that he will take the full 60 days, or very close to it, to decide what to do.

      "I think that it's prudent to think through your options," Kroenke said. "These are big decisions. We're going to try to do the right thing."

      Kroenke said he really couldn't say anything more until the process plays itself out.

      Kroenke currently owns 40 percent of the Rams. He can decide to:

      — Stand pat and maintain his 40 percent share of the Rams.

      — "Cash out" and sell his 40 percent share.

      — Exercise his right of first refusal, in essence matching Khan's offer for the team.

      In reality, Kroenke probably has only two options: maintain his 40 percent share or sell it. Because in pretty strong language Monday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell indicated that the league wasn't inclined to bend its cross-ownership rules to allow Kroenke to match Khan's offer.

      "Let's cross that bridge when we get to it," Goodell said. "But I don't think so. I think everyone understands we're going to respect our policies and make sure we treat everyone the same.

      "We have great respect for Stan, and he has to make some choices. But he also understands the league wants to continue to have policies that we think are beneficial to the league in general and fair to all 32 clubs."

      The cross-ownership rule prevents owning a controlling share in an NFL team in one market while owning majority interest in another major-league team (baseball, basketball, hockey) in a competing NFL city.

      Kroenke owns the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association and the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League.

      As part of Khan's Rams sale agreement Feb. 12, Kroenke has 60 days to declare his intentions with respect to Rams ownership. April 12 is three weeks away, so the time for making a decision is drawing near.

      The "vetting" of Khan and the entire sales...
      -03-23-2010, 09:50 AM
    • MauiRam
      Will Kroenke make a sweetheart deal?
      by MauiRam
      By Jim Thomas
      ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
      04/18/2010

      Stan Kroenke's attempt to finesse the NFL cross-ownership rules may not involve a transfer of hockey and basketball teams in Denver to his family. But rather a sale — to his wife, Ann.

      According to a couple of league sources that tactic could be Kroenke's best hope of getting the NFL to approve his attempt to purchase the 60 percent of the Rams currently up for sale by siblings Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez.

      As wealthy as Kroenke is, he comes in second place at home. At $2.9 billion, he was ranked No. 342 on Forbes' most recent annual list of world billionaires. His wife, Ann, heiress to much of the Wal-Mart fortune, was ranked No. 297 at $3.2 billion.

      So what happens if Ann Walton Kroenke "simply" writes a check for the Denver Nuggets NBA team and the Colorado Avalanche NHL team? How does the NFL react to that?

      "Independent wealth means a lot," one league source said.

      And that's what Ann Walton Kroenke has.

      So at face value, that option might be more palatable to league owners than having Kroenke simply transfer ownership of the Nuggets or Avalanche to some combination of his wife, his son, Josh, or daughter, Whitney.

      When asked if that would be an acceptable path, NFL senior vice president Greg Aiello replied: "I can't answer that question. It's not my question to answer. That's something that has to be decided by NFL ownership. And right now, they can't answer that because they don't know what he's proposing."

      Even those close to Kroenke believe Kroenke has yet to decide on a precise path to finesse the cross-ownership rules.

      But one avenue seems definitely closed: selling the Denver teams to an outsider. Whether it's sports properties or other business properties, Kroenke's history has been as a buyer and a keeper — not a seller of assets. And because he also owns the building the Nuggets and Avalanche play in — the Pepsi Center — it has proved to be a profitable setup.

      If Kroenke sold the Nuggets and Avalanche to his wife, it appears he could maintain ownership of the Pepsi Center. There's nothing in the NFL's cross-ownership rules that would prevent him from keeping the venue. So that would make the purchase cheaper for his wife.

      In 2000, just a few months after the St. Louis Rams defeated Tennessee in Super Bowl XXXIV, Kroenke purchased 93.5 percent of the Avalanche, Nuggets and Pepsi Center. The overall value of those assets at the time was $450 million.

      It is a violation of the NFL's cross-ownership rules for Kroenke to own the Nuggets and Avalanche once he has controlling interest in the Rams. Kroenke already owns 40 percent of the Rams; he will own the full 100 percent of the team if he's successful in his bid to buy Rosenbloom's and Rodriguez's 60...
      -04-18-2010, 12:20 PM
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