Other NFL News

[spuwho]

It's not just the NFL fans, its the players in wait with their entourages, the team execs making the picks, the networks with their talking heads trying to predict who will go next, all of the current and wanna be agents wining and dining prospects.

I think Jacksonville would be a great draw hosting the draft. It definitely would fill hotel rooms, make for lots of catering and all of the steak houses here in town would fill up.

Beyond that, you might see a lot of golf courses fill up their tee times around here, even a charity golf event for pros. Craig and JIA will fill up with private aircraft, so with full commercial flights there will be a bump.

I think that is where the economic benefit ends.

Now, if the Jaguars host a draft celebration before or after featuring special artists or acts, that might increase the draw and spread the interest further.

[JaxJersey-licious]

Why would people come? perhaps they wanna visit St. Augustine and Disney World also. The state of Florida is a great place to visit and for many it will be their first time.

No doubt the event would attract visitors that would stay and spend money and be a big advert to millions to consider the area as a vacation stop but I question if it will attract enough people to warrant all the local resources and local ass-kissing the NFL demands for such an event. On top of police overtime and street closures they may not have gotten little reimbursement from the NFL, there were probably tons of land and venue giveaways they offered the NFL which could very well pay for on their own. Yes it will attract a lot of potential superstars and high-roliing big wigs but they'll come and go. I hope I'm wrong, though.

If the Jaguars do get to host, I hope they get it early because if it's going to be the big draw that say it will be in the future, the competition to host again is gonna get tougher and their incentives will have to be even more generous.

[JaxAvondale]

I've said this before but Jax has 6 NFL teams within an 8 hour drive of the city. Fans of other teams will show up. Also, each team has at least one "legend" announce a pick at the draft. Everyone of those guys setup an autograph session over the weekend.

I agree that the getting the draft sooner than later is ideal. It will be much tougher for the Jags & city to put on a good show once LA & Vegas get their stadium and surrounding area up and running.

[spuwho]

A collection of St Louis entities line up to file suit against the NFL and Rams.

A suit by personal seat license owners has been brought together in a class action. It's getting really ugly.

The city and county have collected a significant amount of evidence that the NFL didn't follow their own relocation rules.

Watch San Diego to follow with one of their own.

Per ESPN:

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/19143274/st-louis-sues-nfl-teams-relocation-los-angeles

St. Louis sues NFL, teams over Rams' relocation

ST. LOUIS -- The city of St. Louis filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the National Football League over the Rams' relocation to Los Angeles, alleging the league violated its own relocation guidelines and enriched itself at the expense of the community it left behind.

The move comes 15 months after the team departed. St. Louis is joined in the lawsuit by St. Louis County and the region's sports authority. The lawsuit filed in St. Louis Circuit Court names the NFL, all 32 teams and their owners, and seeks unspecified but "extensive" damages and restitution.

The NFL says there is "no legitimate basis" for the lawsuit. A spokesman for the league, Brian McCarthy, said it worked diligently with local and state officials in a process he calls "honest and fair."

The Rams moved from Los Angeles to St. Louis before the 1995 season, lured in part by a new taxpayer-built domed stadium. Stan Kroenke, a real estate billionaire and native of Missouri, was minority owner of the team until purchasing it outright in 2010, two years after the death of longtime majority owner Georgia Frontiere.

The Rams said they do not comment on pending legal matters.

The suit claims that it wasn't long afterward that Kroenke began plotting a move, despite public comments from him and team executive Kevin Demoff that the Rams hoped to remain in St. Louis for the long term.

"In the years leading up to the Rams relocation request, Rams officials decided to move the team and confidentially determined that they would be interested in exploiting any opportunity to do so," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit notes that since St. Louis officials weren't aware a move was essentially a done deal, they spent millions developing plans for a new riverfront stadium project aimed at retaining the Rams.

"The Rams never intended to engage in good faith negotiations with St. Louis," the lawsuit says.

In February 2014, Kroenke bought land in Inglewood, California. According to the lawsuit, Demoff said it was "not a piece of land that's any good for a football stadium" when asked about the purchase.

"The size and the shape aren't good for a football stadium," Demoff said then.

But the lawsuit notes that after league owners approved the move in January 2016, Demoff told an interviewer that he recalled Kroenke calling him after inspecting the California property in 2013 and saying it was "an unbelievable site" for a football stadium. The lawsuit says Demoff said the call was one of the "moments in your life you never forget."

The Inglewood stadium is expected to open in 2019. The Rams are playing at Memorial Coliseum until then.

The NFL adopted relocation guidelines in 1984. The lawsuit claims the league violated those guidelines "and instead focused solely on whether more money could be made in Los Angeles -- a factor which does not justify relocation under the Policy," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit alleges that while the league has enriched itself and its teams with the move, St. Louis has lost an estimated $1.85 million to $3.5 million each year in amusement and ticket tax collections, as well as roughly $7.5 million in property taxes. In total, the city will have lost more than $100 million in net proceeds, the suit alleges.

The lawsuit is among several filed over the Rams' departure. Three separate lawsuits related to personal seat licenses were consolidated into one suit. Another suit filed by the regional sports authority seeks to keep the Rams from obtaining the team's former practice facility in St. Louis County for $1 in 2024, as spelled out in the team's original lease.

The Rams finished 4-12 in their first season back in Los Angeles and haven't had a winning record since 2003.

[JaxJersey-licious]

^^^^As much as I sympathize  and feel for the St. Louis Rams and San Diego Charger fans for going through losing their teams the way they did, if they were to win their suits it would send a bad precedent for every municipality denied a professional franchise after going through the typical hoops and song and dance to attain a team. Does this mean Memphis will have a case for suing for being denied a NFL franchise after going through what they did to attract an expansion team in 1993?

At first glance it seems St. Louis' argument on how the NFL violated their own rules on relocation seem paper thin. What part of the NFL policy for moving a franchise was egregiously flaunted or ignored by the Kroenke ownership and the NFL  (impasse on a deal for a new stadium, solid offer and plan for a new stadium somewhere else, fully complying with terms of existing lease and penalties for early termination, super majority of owners' approval of the move and paying of arbitrarily set relocation fee) that the then L.A. Rams took advantage of in 1995 for their move to the Lou?

And if the issue is really all about collusion in denying St. Louis a chance to keep it's franchise, an argument could be made that there was a similar kind of collusion was in place to dissuade an ownership group with Rush Limbaugh as an investor from buying the St. Louis Rams years ago. There are a number of owners (Woody Johnson of the Jets come to mind) that have spoken out on their conservative views and their support for conservative politicians so what legal course does the NFL or the Player's Association have to single Limbaugh and his group out?

Be very careful what you wish for.

[FlaBoy]

Can LA sue St. Louis for taking the Rams originally in 1995?

[Adam White]

Can LA sue St. Louis for taking the Rams originally in 1995?

I'm sure you are familiar with the maxims of equity.

[spuwho]

Can LA sue St. Louis for taking the Rams originally in 1995?

I'm sure you are familiar with the maxims of equity.

St Louis built their stadium before the Rams came.

The opposite of the current situation.

[funwithteeth]

I will never, ever get the over-concern and worry for billion dollar corporations' welfare, when said corporations fleece the ever-loving shit out of the common folks. Insert picture of Reverend Lovejoy's wife: "WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE BILLIONAIRES?!?!"

Here you go:

[JaxJersey-licious]

^^^^As much as I sympathize  and feel for the St. Louis Rams and San Diego Charger fans for going through losing their teams the way they did, if they were to win their suits it would send a bad precedent for every municipality denied a professional franchise after going through the typical hoops and song and dance to attain a team. Does this mean Memphis will have a case for suing for being denied a NFL franchise after going through what they did to attract an expansion team in 1993?

UH, no. Why would this set a bad precedent for other cities fleeced by greedy and predatory corporations? If someone lies to you, and you rely on that lie and spend millions of dollars predicated on said lie, that is an actionable tort.  That would set a great precedent for the cities.

And, no, it doesn't mean Memphis could sue, unless there was evidence that the team deliberately misled them in bad faith, thereby causing the city to waste millions of dollars.

I will never, ever get the over-concern and worry for billion dollar corporations' welfare, when said corporations fleece the ever-loving shit out of the common folks. Insert picture of Reverend Lovejoy's wife: "WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE BILLIONAIRES?!?!"

My main point is that St. Louis has a weak-ass case against the NFL. They may have felt deceived by going through the process but where the fuck (legally) where they outright lied too by the NFL? And remember their big plans to try to keep their team? The premise for their super expensive plans was it would put $$ into reinvigorating Shipyards-shitty parcels of riverfront property, that it would revitalize that area, attract non-football fans there, create jobs. So what's stopping them from going forward with their reinvestment in the area now that the Rams went bye-bye? That's not the NFL's fault. Fair enough that you can't stomach NFL billionaires but another thing I could care less for is frivolous lawsuits.

[JaxJersey-licious]

Good for Telvin Smith calling out players who charge children admission to these bullshit one-day meet and greet "camps". Did a good job explaining the difference between charging for the more intensive multi-day camps as opposed to charging for what amounts to single day autograph sessions to learn skills they can easily catch on YouTube and practice in their yard.

http://deadspin.com/jaguars-telvin-smith-on-nfl-players-who-charge-fees-to-1794315699

[BridgeTroll]

Good for Telvin Smith calling out players who charge children admission to these bullshit one-day meet and greet "camps". Did a good job explaining the difference between charging for the more intensive multi-day camps as opposed to charging for what amounts to single day autograph sessions to learn skills they can easily catch on YouTube and practice in their yard.

http://deadspin.com/jaguars-telvin-smith-on-nfl-players-who-charge-fees-to-1794315699

Donovan Darius called 1010 yesterday afternoon to endorse what Smith had to say and to further clarify.  These guys are PRIME examples of why the NFL is good for a community...

[RattlerGator]

The lawsuit seems like an idiotic waste of taxpayer funds.

The NFL violated their own relocation rules? Really? Well guess what, those are their damn rules and they are free to set them aside -- aren't they? I mean, they aren't a governmental entity bound by rules of providing notice to the public before changing X rule and engaging in Y activity to accomplish Z end result.

So many people these days want to conflate rights and limitations applicable to citizen-government interaction with consumer-to-business interactions or government-to-business interactions. No, no, no.

[spuwho]

The lawsuit seems like an idiotic waste of taxpayer funds.

The NFL violated their own relocation rules? Really? Well guess what, those are their damn rules and they are free to set them aside -- aren't they? I mean, they aren't a governmental entity bound by rules of providing notice to the public before changing X rule and engaging in Y activity to accomplish Z end result.

So many people these days want to conflate rights and limitations applicable to citizen-government interaction with consumer-to-business interactions or government-to-business interactions. No, no, no.

Well, those government entities are accountable to their taxpayers, yes? They did go to the populace for a referendum to pay for the stadium upgrades demanded by the Rams to maintain the lease? It did cost the same taxpayers several millions to put together the plans, drawings, consulting reports, financial analysis to win the day, per the "rules".

Seeing the the city and county of St Louis extended a great deal of terms and favorable conditions to keep the Rams in town and they left anyway, simply means they are going to (try to) claw back some of those costs.

And remember, some lawsuits are filed (in political terms) to get to discovery.  Then politicos can wave in the air with pride, "see, they were out to screw us" and gets them off the hook for spending the dough to try.

In their minds, spending a million for a lawsuit, to get some evidence out in the open to save their hides, is money well spent.

I don't necessarily agree completely, but I would like to see some better transparency on how public entities try to deal with the NFL and their whims.  Besides, the NFL needs some bad press on these relocation activities. Some of the owners are starting to get a bit self-important.

[I-10east]

The LA Chargers (LAC, perfect acronym) couldn't even sell out a 27K stadium (21K showed up) in the preseason opener LOL. Things are just gonna go swimmingly when that 70K stadium in Inglewood opens...

http://thebiglead.com/2017/08/13/the-chargers-couldnt-even-fill-stubhub-center-for-their-first-game-in-los-angeles/