Are the Rams moving to London?

[MikeO]

Didn't Kroenke have to put the Nuggets, Avalanche, the indoor lacrosse, and the soccer team he owns in Denver in his son's name when he bought the Rams? Can't remember exactly how he did it, but I know he had to do some stuff to make it work. But yeah he will have to re-work a few things if he gets the Dodgers.

[fyo]

Kroenke is allowed to pursue buying the Dodgers specifically because the NFL defines LA as a vacant territory right now (so cross-territory doesn't apply); otherwise, they would make him divest himself of the Rams before he bought the Dodgers.  Specifically, 4.4 D says that no NFL club has rights to the LA area, and 1997-FC-3-1 says that an owner may purchase another major sports league franchise if it is not located within the home territory of any NFL club (emphasis added).

Section 6 (1997-FC-3-6) specifically notes that "for the purpose of this resolution the "home territories" described above shall include each home territory in which a club is playing [...] as well as [...] LA".

Other parts of the bylaws also restrict a team from moving to LA without paying the league for the right to that (reserved) franchise.

[Spider-Dan]

Section 6 (1997-FC-3-6) specifically notes that "for the purpose of this resolution the "home territories" described above shall include each home territory in which a club is playing [...] as well as [...] LA".

You excised a particularly relevant part (emphasis added):

"6. That for purposes of this resolution the “home territories” described above shall include each home territory in which a club is currently playing (which, as of the date of this resolution, includes Houston) as well as the areas that would constitute the home territories of clubs playing in Cleveland, greater Los Angeles (including Orange County), Nashville, and Memphis."

This section is outlining the rights of the future team that moves to the LA market; namely, that another NFL owner could not purchase a major sports league franchise in their market.  The words "would" and "playing" indicate this.

This is perfectly consistent with the other sections, which explicitly state that 1) LA belongs to no NFL club, and 2) NFL owners may not buy sports franchises in the markets of other NFL clubs.

[fyo]

This section is outlining the rights of the future team that moves to the LA market; namely, that another NFL owner could not purchase a major sports league franchise in their market.  The words "would" and "playing" indicate this.

'

I disagree. The rights are reserved and applied as if a club were currently present in LA.

Let's just agree to disagree. I think the language is clear, as do you. We just don't agree on it and while I'd normally be all for spending another dozen posts bringing in relevant examples and arguments, way too many threads around here wind up as discussions of semantics and I'm not willing to contribute (even more) to that.

[Spider-Dan]

Fair enough; let's not get into legalese, as I doubt either one of us are professionally qualified to interpret (I know I'm not).  You said (emphasis added):

If Kroenke buys the Dodgers, he almost has to move the Rams to LA.

If the NFL's constitution is as you say, wouldn't Kroenke be prohibited from buying the Dodgers in the first place?  Under your interpretation, he wouldn't be permitted to buy the Dodgers and then try to move the Rams; the moment the Dodgers deal closed, he would be in violation of the NFL's rules and he would be forced to give up his stake in the Rams (not attempt to move them).

In other words, doesn't the fact that Kroenke is courting the Dodgers before the Rams are even eligible to move prove my point?

[fyo]

In other words, doesn't the fact that Kroenke is courting the Dodgers before the Rams are even eligible to move prove my point?

Considering how long the NFL has given him and other owners to get out from under violations, I'm not convinced. Kroenke still owns the Nuggets and the Avalanche which is a clear violation of the bylaws. No, he hasn't transferred them to his son yet (at least the NBA still has Stanley Kroenke listed as the owner of the Nuggets) and even if he had, that would not be allowed under the bylaws since 2004-FC-2-1 specifies that the cross-ownership rules are extended to the controlling owner's immediate family.

Another recent example of a violation that the league allowed to go uncorrected for a long time was that several of the Rooney brothers owned gambling facilities while also owning the Steelers. This went uncorrected for years and Goodell even had former commish Tagliabue installed as the front-man in trying to get the issue resolved. I'm not sure what the status of that is today, but I wasn't able to immediately find any news of the sale having been completed.

It may well be that the bylaws of the NFL lack any real teeth (it would certainly seem so), except where franchise sales and moves are concerned (issues that require a vote among owners).

[Spider-Dan]

That's a fair point.

[TonyB0D]

Rams will not move to London due to the travel that would be involved.  Imagine London to San Diego....wtf!

[MikeO]

Rams will not move to London due to the travel that would be involved.  Imagine London to San Diego....wtf!

Ideally they want 2 teams in Europe, 1 they can work with but 2 would be best. So when a "road" team goes to London or Berlin...etc they can stay for 2 weeks and play 2 games. And when the London team comes to the states they will stay for at least 2 games. They say ideally they want those Europe teams to be in an "eastern" type division to keep the longer flights to the west coast to a minimum. They have a whole way to make it work but it won't be easy. Not for a few years anyway. NFL Network was talking about it a while back and they had the rough proposal of how to make it best for everyone involved if/when the day comes. It was interesting

[Phishfan]

NFL teams in Europe full time is shit. Can the plan NFL. Don't ruin our league.

[suck for luck]

Agree 100%.

[AZ Fins Fan 55]

NFL teams in Europe full time is shit. Can the plan NFL. Don't ruin our league.

+1