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SUNDAY • 01.10.2016 • $2.50 • FINAL EDITION
STADIUM PLAN SUNK? In a report to owners, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell describes proposals from St. Louis, San Diego and Oakland as ‘inadequate’ to keep teams
REPORT DOESN’T OK RAMS MOVE
BY DAVID HUNN St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS • The proposed riverfront stadium
plan here is inadequate, and will not require the National Football League to block the St. Louis Rams from moving to Los Angeles, Commissioner Roger Goodell said Saturday in a report to team owners. Goodell concludes that city leaders in all three of the communities hoping to keep their teams — Oakland, San Diego and St. Louis — have missed their opportunity, said a person who has read the report and spoke to the Post-Dispatch on condition of anonymity. The report, sent Saturday morning to all 32 team owners, does not approve a Rams move to Los Angeles, the source said; NFL owners still have to vote on team relocation. But it suggests that all three teams have satisfied the NFL’s relocation guidelines, opening a clear path for the owners to choose the Rams — the only team that could have been barred this
FLAWS IN HOME MARKETS’ PLANS: ST. LOUIS • Proposal’s financing package includes a request for league funding that is $100 million in excess of the maximum provided under current league policy. SAN DIEGO • Proposed $1.1 billion stadium is contingent on a public vote in June. OAKLAND • City has expressed an interest in keeping the Raiders but has not made a formal stadium proposal.
See GOODELL • Page A5
NFL owners will decide if any of the three teams relocates to LA when they meet Tuesday and Wednesday in Houston
TASK FORCE HERE UNDETERRED Group says it’s confident its stadium plan would ‘speak extremely well on behalf of St. Louis as the NFL deliberates’ Hochman • It’s wrong to lump in St. Louis’ proposal with non-plans from Oakland and San Diego. Sports, C1 McClellan • Raise a toast to Stan the self-made man and be content with who we are. STL Sunday, B1
Angst rises as water recedes
Rep. Cleaver speaks at MLK kickoff event here BY DOUG MOORE AND SAMANTHA LISS St. Louis Post-Dispatch
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, DKansas City, gave the opening address Saturday evening kicking off the state’s official events to honor civil rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Harris-Stowe State University, where Cleaver spoke Saturday, has hosted the opening celebrations of the annual King events for the last 30 years. Cleaver delivered a rousing speech at Harris-Stowe State University that generated laughs and applause, including a standing ovation at the end. He urged attendees to “wake up” from what he See MLK • Page A7
J.B. FORBES • jforbes@post-dispatch.com
Tammy Poirrier, 44, stands in her kitchen Wednesday and contemplates all the work she has to do now that the floodwater has receded from her home near the Big River. Stacks of canned goods sit on the table, waiting to be wiped of mud. An insurance adjuster had just left after assessing the damage. Poirrier, who bought the house 15 years ago from her grandfather, plans to move.
‘THEY SAID IT WOULD NEVER FLOOD AGAIN’
BY JACOB BARKER AND STEPHEN DEERE St. Louis Post-Dispatch
In 2008, Tammy Poirrier spent $230,000 to raise her home 10 feet, but it still took on water this time
JEFFERSON COUNTY • Tammy Poirrier tread gingerly through what remained of her home, trying to protect a bad knee. With each step, her foot sank into the carpet, creating a momentary pool, as she decided what could be saved: The oak curio for sure. Maybe the antique dresser. Not the china cabinet, its doors now too warped to close. Unable to afford a Dumpster, Poirrier and her relatives carried damaged items down a flight of 14 stairs to a fire on her front lawn. A day later, the remains of a sofa, a dining room table and a plastic toy castle still smoldered, sending white smoke through the trees — a consequence not so much of risk but of faith in predictions about something prov-
‘AN EXTRAORDINARY WAKE-UP CALL’ Deluge reignites debate on usefulness of levees, decades-old policies on flood plain development
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Tony Messenger Painful revelations about a treasured mentor • A2 Steelers, Chiefs win, Maclin hurt • C1 Handicapping the goofy Golden Globes • D1 Cousin mayors keep it all in the family • B1 Healthy eating is possible when dining out • H1 TODAY
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ST. LOUIS ON NOV. 16, 2015 As photographed by NASA’s AQUA satellite.
IN BUSINESS • E1 Most people lack flood coverage.
ST. LOUIS ON JAN. 1, 2016 Three days of rain led to record flooding.
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Levee ‘performed as designed,’ says Corps of Engineers FLOOD • FROM A4
But in Pacific, upstream from Valley Park, the Meramec River didn’t break its 1982 record. “There’s a few things going on, but the greatest magnification of the flood is right at Valley Park, and I think those effects spread to both Eureka and Arnold,” Criss said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which built the Valley Park Levee, maintains there’s no evidence that the structure exacerbated downstream flooding, as it only raises river levels by 4 inches for 7.5 miles upstream. “The levee was completed in 2006, and during this flood event performed as designed and has no impact on the river levels downstream (toward Arnold),” said corps spokesman René Poché in a statement. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon seemed to agree that the flooding was more an act of God than man. “What happened on the Meramec and these areas here doesn’t have a lot to do with dikes or dams in South Dakota or how the Mississippi River is managed,” Nixon said. “It happened because a unique weather pattern dropped over 10 inches of rain in a short period of time in hill country with thin soil, and when that happens you’re going to have floods, and there’s not a lot you can do about that.” In the aftermath of the 2015 deluge, some entities have hinted that they may seek the very protection others argue adds to the vulnerability. MSD paid the price for building two sewer treatment plants in the Meramec’s flood plain in Fenton and Valley Park. Both flooded despite being protected by levees. Hoelscher said the district has little choice but to rebuild the treatment plants at their current locations, near customers and in the direction which sewage flows — downhill. To protect the reconstructed plants, MSD is considering adding to the levees’ heights.
RELIEF VALVES On the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, authorities must maintain and strengthen existing levees protecting heavily developed areas, Posey said. Most of the Metro East, for example, is in a flood plain. But other areas could be ripe for relief valves, similar to the Birds Point Levee in Southeast Missouri — part of which the corps dynamited in 2011 to save the Illinois town of Cairo from flooding. “There is a strategy where you could allow some areas to be flooded under certain conditions,” said Todd Strole, a St. Louis-based associate director of flood plain management for the Nature Conservancy. “But when they’re not in flood, they could be used for agricultural use, or they could be used for recreational use.” And new river management techniques may offer more than flood mitigation. One proposal suggests paying farmers for storing floodwater when river levels rise, catching nutrient-rich sediment that would fertilize crops and reduce runoff that contributes to the massive dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Managing lots of water is a better problem than managing too little, said Derek Hoeferlin, an assistant professor of architecture at Washington University who developed water management strategies in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. “It’s just a shame to say that it all gets shot down the river,” Hoeferlin said. “We’re constantly battling it, and that’s a 20th century Corps of Engineers mentality.”
‘I’M DONE’ As Tammy Poirrier pulled canned goods out of a saturated pantry, an insurance adjuster made his way through her home, sizing up damaged drywall, appliances and cabinets. His calculations would be entered in a database that spits out numbers based on labor rates and material costs in a given ZIP code. Todd Sams, who works for a private company compiling estimates for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, had been in the business for more than a decade and knew his role: to provide facts, not comfort. Other government employees, he said, would arrive with water, hugs and false hope, telling Poirrier that everything would be OK. But everything was not going to be OK. A long journey lay ahead. “They are changing the flood maps because of urban sprawl,” Sams said. “That is what is causing this. ... You talk to farmers who say, ‘It’s never flooded here.’ Well, you didn’t have a Walmart five miles up the road. ... 100-year flood, 500-year flood, 1,000-year flood, what does that mean? Those terms, as far as I’m concerned, are somewhat antiquated.” Poirrier bought the home about 15 years ago from her grandfather. She knows it was questionable to spend approximately $230,000 restoring and elevating a property probably worth half of that amount. But construction costs have a way of ballooning, and some things are more valuable than money. She recalled swimming in the river on weekends as a child and harvesting tomatoes out of the fertile soil. As she stood in her kitchen, her cheeks flushed, an allergic reaction to the mold spores in the air. She did her best to hold it together and brace for a familiar experience. In three or four months, she hoped, the house would again be habitable. Only this time, instead of moving back in, she planned to stick a “for sale” sign in the front yard. “I’m done,” she said. Jacob Barker • 314-340-8291 @jacobbarker on Twitter jbarker@post-dispatch.com Stephen Deere • 314-340-8116 @stephencdeere on Twitter sdeere@post-dispatch.com
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH • A5
It wasn’t always rocky with Kroenke CHANGE CAME WHEN HE TOOK OVER TEAM Before • Rams Park execs and landlords enjoyed amiable relationship After • Tone shifted, arbitration ensued and Inglewood land was acquired BY DAVID HUNN St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS • The relationship between the St. Louis Rams and local officials wasn’t always like this. Before 2010, before Stan Kroenke exercised his option to buy the rest of the team, and years before he submitted an application to move it to Los Angeles, Rams Park executives and their landlord, the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission, had an amiable and productive relationship. John Shaw, president of the Rams then, and Dan Dierdorf, former chairman of the visitors commission, liked each other, talked regularly, and cut the deals required by the Rams lease — including $30 million in improvements to the Edward Jones Dome, where the Rams play. “John was always accessible,” Dierdorf, a former all-pro lineman for the St. Louis Cardinals, said late last week. “That’s the way the Rams organization was run 10 years ago.” Then Kroenke, a minority owner, bought the rest of the team. And the tone of the conversations changed. Kroenke’s staff never turned down a meeting, said Bob O’Loughlin, who took Dierdorf’s place. But the message was always the same: “We met with them numerous times to say, ‘Is there something we can do to keep you here?’” O’Loughlin said. “And they said they just wanted to follow the rules in the lease. So we went to arbitration.” The Rams are now one step from leaving St. Louis. National Football League owners will meet Tuesday and Wednesday in Houston to discuss Kroenke’s proposal to build a glittering $1.9 billion stadium in Inglewood, Calif. He has competition. The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders have proposed a $1.8 billion stadium in Carson, just a dozen miles away. Kroenke has a gilded proposal. His submission to the league, sent last Monday, describes building a “worldclass, iconic” stadium in L.A. The facility is designed to handle 100,000 visitors for large events. A clear roof protects fans, but open sides let in cool ocean breezes. Set among 8.5 million square feet of office, hotel and dining space, it could, Kroenke said, serve “as the epicenter for a NFL retail and entertainment district.” In order to move with the league’s blessing, Kroenke needs to gather votes from 24 of 32 owners. But they won’t be basing their decisions on the glitz of L.A. plans alone. A six-page list of league relocation policies and procedures guide the owners. NFL executives have consistently pointed out that it’s not a set of rules, just guidelines. Still, St. Louis fans are largely hoping Kroenke has failed to meet them. Did Kroenke effectively serve his current community? How much tax support have the Rams received since they arrived in 1994? Has the club lost money? And has Kroenke engaged in “good faith negotiations” on terms that might keep the Rams in St. Louis? That, as it turns out, is harder to answer.
‘STONE COLD EASY MONEY’ Kroenke’s relocation application, released Tuesday following a request
POST-DISPATCH FILE PHOTO
St. Louis Rams then-minority owner Stan Kroenke (left) sits with team President John Shaw at a news conference in January 1995.
NFL OWNERS MEETINGS When • Meetings start Tuesday; expected to end Wednesday Where • Houston What • Owners are expected to vote on moving one or more teams to Los Angeles; 24 of 32 votes are needed.
from the Post-Dispatch, raised ire across the region. St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger called it “demonstrably preposterous.” Gov. Jay Nixon scoffed at Kroenke’s claim that the region couldn’t support three teams. Mayor Francis Slay said the owner has long been “absent and unavailable.” Officials and fans alike began dissecting Kroenke’s data and logic. Some of the owner’s points were conceded, some quickly cast aside. Others are still being debated: The St. Louis economy is not that of San Diego or Oakland, clearly. But does it “lag” so far behind in economic drivers that it can’t support a football team? Not likely, said experts. Several metro areas with successful NFL teams — Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Cleveland, for instance — rank lower than St. Louis in the U.S. Conference of Mayors’s annual projection of economic growth. And are the Rams the best team to return to Los Angeles? Kroenke’s relocation application said the Rams have the strongest connection with L.A. fans, and he cited two polls showing 53 percent and 51 percent of the respondents preferring his team. But the first poll was an informal online-only survey by the Los Angeles Times. And the second was a poll on Twitter conducted by an ESPN writer. Yet Kroenke didn’t reference a third poll, conducted by a professional survey company, of the fivecounty Los Angeles metropolitan area, which found that the Chargers and Rams were loved about the same. Finally, is the local proposal to build a new $1.1 billion open-air riverfront stadium such a bad deal — as Kroenke’s application says — that any NFL team accepting it “will be well on the road to financial ruin”? Nixon’s stadium task force, which has worked with the NFL on the proposal for more than a year, bristled at the notion. “We have no idea how the Rams estimated a negative cash flow of $7.5 million,” the task force said in its formal response to the league. John Vrooman, a Vanderbilt University sports economist, calculated that Kroenke will make more than a
$100 million a year — in operating profit — if he moves the Rams into the proposed riverfront stadium. “The value of an NFL club would increase by 20 percent to 40 percent just by moving into a new venue — even on Mars,” Vrooman said in an email to the Post-Dispatch. “NFL ownership is automatic stone cold easy money.” Still, by Vrooman’s calculations, Kroenke’s profits double in L.A. All of this leaves St. Louis fans and officials wondering: Has Kroenke avoided area officials, stayed out of Dome negotiations, and skipped nearly all media interviews because he has wanted — ever since he bought the whole team — to get out of the Jones Dome lease, and move?
INGLEWOOD LAND Kroenke did not agree to an interview with the Post-Dispatch on Friday. He has denied such allegations in the past. And his staff denied them again last week. But his own relocation paperwork sheds some light on the subject. As 2012 approached, leaders at the convention center were working to avoid arbitration. The lease with the Rams required the Dome be “firsttier,” or a top-eight stadium, by 2015. They knew they were in trouble, O’Loughlin remembers now. A halfdozen brand-new NFL stadiums had bloomed by then. It would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade the Dome to match. And that would only keep the Rams in their lease until 2025. O’Loughlin and others talked to the Rams numerous times about another option, outside the lease — like a new stadium. “The answer was pretty standard,” O’Loughlin said. “‘We want to abide by the lease, and the lease says you have to be toptier.’” Finally, they gave up. The Rams won the arbitration, and heard nothing further from local leaders for the next 16 months, according to Kroenke’s NFL application. But Kroenke was not idle, he wrote in the league paperwork. Over that same period, he met with his fellow owners, and with the league. And with their “full knowledge and encouragement,” he began assembling land in Inglewood. David Hunn • 314-340-8121 @davidhunn on Twitter dhunn@post-dispatch.com
NFL commissioner cites uncertain funding GOODELL • FROM A1
year by a hometown effort. Oakland has not submitted a formal proposal, and San Diego’s plan is contingent on a public vote this summer. The report is also a signal that NFL executives expect owners to vote on relocation at a league meeting Tuesday and Wednesday in Houston. Saturday evening, an NFL spokesman confirmed that Goodell had sent the report, and that the action is prescribed in the league’s relocation guidelines, but said the NFL had no further comment. Dave Peacock, co-chairman of the state task force planning the $1.1 billion riverfront stadium in St. Louis, said that he had heard the news, but hadn’t seen the report, and wouldn’t comment. “I’d be responding to a rumor,” he said. A statement sent by the task force later Saturday evening said that members do not expect to see the report, “as that would be a matter between the league office and team owners.” “We do hope the NFL will communicate with all home markets as to their status prior to any decisions next
week,” the task force statement continued, “particularly here in St. Louis, where so many people have dedicated themselves over the past 14 months to producing a strong and certain stadium proposal for the NFL and our hometown Rams.” The task force said it remained confident that its proposal would “speak extremely well on behalf of St. Louis as the NFL deliberates next week.” Goodell’s report, according to the person who had read it, is 48 pages and examines what the NFL sees as the facts of each hometown’s proposal to build a new stadium and keep their teams. Goodell says in the report that city leaders in each town agree that their current stadiums don’t work. And each city had “ample opportunity, but did not develop proposals sufficient to ensure retention of their teams,” the source said, citing the report. In St. Louis’ case, Goodell says the task force’s riverfront stadium plan is uncertain. The Missouri Legislature could block payment of bonds necessary to build the facility, the report notes. And the task force asked for $300 million in league stadium fund-
ing, $100 million “in excess of the maximum provided under current policy,” the source said, again citing the report. Goodell said in the report that the Rams have the right to relocate, as a contingent of their lease with the Edward Jones Dome, the source said. The Dome authority, a public body, failed to meet requirements of the lease, the source said, and defaulted. In addition, Goodell’s report declares that both Los Angeles plans — Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s Inglewood stadium, and the Raiders’ and Chargers’ joint venture in Carson — are “first class stadiums,” the source said. Both can host two teams; both are ready for development now. And NFL market research supports the conclusion that the L.A. area is capable of supporting two teams, the source continued. Goodell also notes in the report, the source said, that the league hasn’t approved a franchise relocation in nearly two decades, and continues to place a “high value” on team stability. David Hunn • 314-340-8121 @davidhunn on Twitter dhunn@post-dispatch.com
J O I N U S O N L I N E S T L T O D A Y. C O M / M E T R O
SUNDAY • 01.10.2016 • B
THE HOUSING SHIFT BY WALKER MOSKOP • wmoskop@post-dispatch.com
During the past 15 years, some parts of the St. Louis region have undergone dramatic shifts in their housing markets. Across the metro area, homeownership rates fell during the recession, and are still lower than they were at the turn of the century. In addition, the foreclosure crisis resulted in — or in some cases accelerated — depopulation in some neighborhoods, resulting in rising home vacancy rates. But these shifts vary dramatically depending on where you live, and some areas haven’t followed the broader trends. The maps below take a look at how homeownership and vacancy rates have changed over time by ZIP code, according to U.S. census data. MORE ONLINE • Explore interactive versions of these maps at STLtoday.com | SOURCE • 2000 Decennial Census, 2010-2014 American Community Survey
VACANCY RATES HAVE INCREASED 2000
0
6
12
18
24+
2010-14 AVG.
HOMEOWNERSHIP RATES HAVE DECREASED 2000
0
55
65
75
85+
2010-14 AVG.
Several of the ZIP codes that experienced the greatest change in vacancy rates were along the western edge of north St. Louis and in adjacent inner-ring portions of St. Louis County. Most of those areas also saw more renters and fewer homeowners. Perhaps the most significant jumps in vacancy occurred in the Metro East, in the 62204 and 62205 ZIP codes containing East St. Louis and Washington Park. Meanwhile, downtown St. Louis and the areas immediately north and south of it saw vacancy rates improve. Across the 15-county metro region, about 89 percent of the housing units were occupied, as of 2014 estimates. Of those, about 69 percent were owner-occupied. Both figures are below 2000 levels.
Raise a toast to self-made Stan, and be content BILL McCLELLAN St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“But don’t ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to.” — Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well” Who will rise with me today to toast Stan Kroenke? At last, it is possible to understand and admire his long silence. I like to think he was embarrassed after he told Bernie Miklasz in 2010 that he was bothered by the perception that he was scheming to move the team to Los Angeles. “People know I can be trusted. People know I am an honorable guy.” At the time, Kroenke was seeking the See MCCLELLAN • Page B2
Post-Dispatch’s editorial page has new skipper GILBERT BAILON St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Tod Robberson has acquired many journalistic skills as a foreign correspondent traveling the globe covering stories that span a vast spectrum of geography, cultures and languages. Now, the accomplished and awardwinning journalist is bringing his many skills to the Midwest, where this week he began as the new editorial page editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Robberson, 59, most recently was an editorial writer for The Dallas Morning News since 2007, which included his work on the “Bridging Dallas’ NorthSee BAILON • Page B3
Schneider cousins keep it all in the family as mayors Though different as night and day, Florissant and Overland leaders share calling to serve
DAVID CARSON • dcarson@post-dispatch.com
Cousins Mike Schneider (left) and Tom Schneider have devoted years to serving their communities.
BY STEVE GIEGERICH St. Louis Post-Dispatch
OVERLAND • At first glance
they have little in common. Tom is measured; Mike loquacious. Tom favors a coat and tie; Mike polo shirts. Tom served as a Navy Seabee; Mike a Marine. Tom is a conservative Democrat; Mike an Independent. Be that as it may, the two men do in fact share a last name, a common set of paternal grandparents and — as unlikely as it may have seemed when they were kids — identical titles. Thomas Schneider, 67, is the mayor of Florissant. First cousin M ichael
See MAYORS • Page B5
STL SUNDAY
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STL SUNDAY
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M 1 • Sunday • 01.10.2016
WEATHERBIRD’S TOP TWEETS Besides gracing the front page of the newspaper since 1901, I also spend time watching Twitter.
@WEATHERBIRD Start a conversation with me on Twitter
Let’s talk about Stan. The one who is decidedly not “the Man.” “The worst thing about all this is that Stan Kroenke was literally named after Stan Musial. He doesn’t deserve that namesake” Marie, @marie_lynne523 “The only Stan that truly matters in St. Louis had the last name of Musial. Kroenke should change his name to Ebenezer.” Wade Forrester, @CardinalHistory As a bird, I can’t criticize anyone on their appearance, but ... “‘Kroenke’ just sounds like a campy cartoon villain and that awful mustache / toupee combo makes him look like one” Tyler, @ tyler_adolphson (I don’t have to explain why everyone is upset at Kroenke, right? For those who only read the paper for this column: The Rams owner has asked the NFL to move the team to Los Angeles, and the request basically echoed every bad thing anyone has ever said about the city.)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Stan Kroenke, shown at a Rams game in 2010, wants to relocate the team to Los Angeles.
St. Louis was on skids long before Rams saga league’s approval to buy the team. Perhaps he thought he couldn’t afford to alienate anybody, not even us. Still, I like to think he later looked at his words in the newspaper, and thought, “Why do I say these things? It would be better to be silent.” Which thereafter he was. Of course, other people were glad to carry his water. Who can blame them? A guy named after Stan Musial tells you something, you believe it. This is St. Louis. Now we know what Kroenke really thought about us. He laid it down in his relocation application. But you know something? There’s hardly anything he said in that application that I haven’t said myself. We are a sad sack of a city, betrayed by our business leaders. They were sellers rather than buyers and now we are a branch office town. Our best days are behind us. That is one reason I so love St. Louis. Its remembrance of past glories gives it character. I am reminded of an old boxer hanging around the gym, flabby now and smoking cigarettes, talking about the days when he was a contender. “In 1900, I was the fifth-largest city in the country. Los Angeles and Phoenix were cow towns. You can look it up.” We had long been on the skids when I got here in 1980. About the time I arrived, we were the setting for scenes in “Escape From New York.” Director John Carpenter described his most pleasant discovery: “A major coup was finding in St. Louis an exact replica — deserted, desolated and unused — of New York’s Grand Central Station.” That would be our beloved Union Station, once the busiest railroad terminal in the world. We’ve gussied ourselves up a bit since I got here, but it’s generally been a case of one step forward, two steps back. So what? The secret to happiness is knowing who you are. I wrote a column about that last year when there was so much excitement about our proposed new stadium. Dave Peacock was pushing the notion that the stadium could accommodate a soccer team as well as a football team. Four professional teams in a branch office town? You would think that Peacock would understand we are not what we once were. He used to work at Mother Brewery. Now he’s into Jamba Juice. The column ended this way: “We are what we are — an old city with a baseball team and a hockey team.” Be who you are! Oddly enough, Kroenke suffers from the same inability to embrace his own reality.
May 24 - June 5 Egypt Extensions: Alexandria / Petra, Jordan
June 5 - 6 / June 6 - 8
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“Had trouble pronouncing Des Peres and Gravois #kroenkecomplaints” Sean C., @2xAught7 And yet ... “48 hours ago reams of stadium supporters were saying STL City sucks and needs the stadium, Now they’re calling out Stan for saying STL sucks” STLrainbow, @ stlrainbow “You know who would be grateful for millions of dollars put at their feet? Our public schools, social services, maybe event pub transit.” David Nehrt-Flores, @ floresstl He continues: “For real. My ‘#kroenkecomplaints’ is that we are not more upset at the people who want to give our money to Kroenke in the first place.”
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“Found out there’s no ferry on Tesson, Lemay or Dougherty. #kroenkecomplaints” The Treaty, @psouthtreaty
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As featured earlier this week, tweeps used the hashtag #kroenkecomplaints to poke fun at Kroenke’s statements slamming St. Louis. According to Twitter, from Monday to Friday, more than 16,000 tweets contained the hashtag.
While his arguments for relocating to Los Angeles make sense to me, I suspect he may not get there. If not, he will have only himself to blame. I’m talking about his foolish insistence that he is a self-made man. His success as a developer had to do with a magical ability to know where the Waltons planned to put a Walmart or a Sam’s Club. With that magical ability, all he had to do was find a partner who knew how to develop. He did that. Then he watched and saw how the partner did things. Guess what? It was not difficult. It’s not as if the developer digs the founLAURIE SKRIVAN • lskrivan@post-dispatch.com dations and puts up the buildings. He hires St. Louis Rams fans chant their support for the Rams and unhappiness with owner people to do that. Actually, he hires people Stan Kroenke at the Dec. 17 game between the Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. to hire people to do that. It is like owning a football team. You do not have to tackle or be tackled. You hire people to do that. Actually, you hire people to hire people to do that. How did Kroenke develop his magical ability to know the corporate minds of the THE PHOTO CONTEST WITH A TWIST Waltons? He has refused to acknowledge that his marriage to a Walton had anything to do with it. He has insisted he is a selfmade man. Actually, he has hired people to do the insisting. Average people like you or me roll our eyes and shrug it off. But his insistence that he is self-made bugs rich people who inherited their money. The Bornwells and the Marriedwells are cousins. When Kroenke denies his reality, it’s as if he is putting his own family down. It also bugs rich people who truly are self-made. If you set to sea on a little boat and have to depend on your wits and your judgment and a dose of good fortune to come to land on Paradise Island, you reParties with pals ❤ sent it when a guy arrives on his wife’s yacht and says, “I, too, came on a small A date with my love boat.” So Kroenke has few friends among his fellow owners. It is possible that they will party slumber look past his excellent arguments for taking the Rams back to Los Angeles. They might allow petty animosities to trump logic. But I wish Kroenke well. I harbor no animosity. I raise a glass to him and to us this morning. I only wish the glass I am raising were filled with a Screaming Eagle cabernet from Kroenke’s uber-exclusive winery in Napa Valley. He is, you might know, a world-class vintner. Actually, he bought an uber-exclusive winery a few years ago, but in his mind, he is probably a world-class vintner. “Here’s to Stan! Here’s to us! Be who you are!”
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Giza, Luxor, Aswan, and 4-night Nile Cruise
“Darth Kroenke is aboard the Death Star, pointing his Superlaser toward St. Louis, ready to obliterate the market so he simply can’t stay.” David Boll, @Dbolljr
“As a devoted St. Louis Rams fan, please don’t allow Kroenke’s horrible depiction of my fair city to sway your decision. @ nflcommish” Michelle Robinson, @ profound3
For more information, please attend any ONE of these slide presentations: Saturday, Jan. 30 OR 2 - 3 p.m.
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MCCLELLAN • FROM B1
“Confused as to why people are still fighting for the Rams to stay. If Kroenke is too dumb to recognize what he has here, let ‘em go #seeya” Marissa Farris, @marissadanae7
Rams fans (at least this one) do want the team to stay.
J O I N U S O N L I N E S T L T O D A Y. C O M / S P O R T S
SUNDAY • 01.10.2016 • C
RAMS REPORT CARD
FIRST-TIER
FAILURE
Season of high expectations is another losing one
NFL gives St. Louis stadium the shaft Commissioner Goodell says plans are ‘inadequate’
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LA Rams fans march with signs outside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday.
This might have been Fisher’s most competitive Rams team, but it’s an extremely short list of coaches who survive four straight losing seasons. The Rams somehow saw the need to sign Foles to a contract extension in early August, before he’d even thrown a pass in preseason play.
W
BY JIM THOMAS
e may know in just a few days if the 2015 season was the last for the Rams in St. Louis. If that’s indeed the case, it will rank among the most disappointing of the 21 squads to call the Gateway City home. With four offseasons to build and shape a roster to their liking, coach Jeff Fisher, general manager Les Snead, and the rest of the organization entered the year with high expectations and really no excuses. This was to be the year the team finally got over the hump and achieved its first winning season since 2003 and first playoff berth since 2004. All of which looked possible after dominating victories over Cleveland and San Francisco put the Rams above .500 in November — at 4-3 — for the first time since 2006. But then came a five-game losing streak, one that included crushing losses to Minnesota in
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
overtime and Baltimore on a game-ending field goal. So much for playoffs. So much for a winning season. The same team that swept Seattle and won at Arizona lost to inferior teams in Chicago, Baltimore, and San Francisco. Such inconsistency has been a hallmark of Fisher’s four teams in St. Louis. But to a degree, this season was doomed before it even started by the failure to add a veteran starter or two on the offensive line via free agency or trade. And by the idea that Nick Foles would be the answer at quarterback. The result was a 7-9 record, extending the Rams’ league-long string of losing seasons to nine years. Our annual season-ending report card reflects on an organization where the owner seemingly insists on a first-tier stadium but once again has fallen short of putting a first-tier product on the field.
See RAMS • Page C5
More injuries but Blues win to end road trip
BENJAMIN HOCHMAN St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The NFL passionately cares about aiding out-of-shape kids, breast cancer fighters and survivors, and the military, but here is an entire market, with hundreds and thousands of NFL fans, and the league essentially says: “You’re on your own.” Is St. Louis an NFL city with an asterisk? Saturday night, another example. The fellows over at the NFL won’t block Los Angeles Times >Rams’ efforts to acquired a 48-page move. A1 report, distributed by commissioner Roger Goodell to all NFL owners. The document said the proposed stadium solutions in Oakland, St. Louis and San Diego are “unsatisfactory and inadequate,” which is interesting for numerous reasons, notably that Oakland and San Diego don’t even have stadium solutions. More often than not, there are a few flaws with publicly financed stadiums, sure. But the way Rams owner Stan Kroenke, and now Goodell, have referred to this thing, it’s as if St. Louis’ stadium See HOCHMAN • Page C3
Chiefs end playoff jinx in big fashion Kansas City romps 30-0 over Texans in wild-card game but Maclin is injured ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY JEREMY RUTHERFORD St. Louis Post-Dispatch
HOUSTON • After 22 years without a playoff
LOS ANGELES • Only 17 healthy Blues
will make the trip back to St. Louis on Sunday. A three-game road BLUES 2 trip was devastating on the injury front, KINGS 1 as the Blues lost two more players to in> 7 p.m. Tuesday vs. jury Saturday night in New Jersey, FSM > Blues move on after Los Angeles. But aflosing top players to ter heartbreak in both injury. C10 Colorado and Anaheim, the Blues eked out a 2-1 shootout win over the Kings in front of a sellout crowd at Staples Center. Brian Elliott made 26 saves through overtime and six more in the shootout, and Troy Brouwer made it stand with a goal in the seventh round. See BLUES • Page C10
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chiefs wide receiver Chris Conley catches a touchdown pass against Texans cornerback Kareem Jackson during the second half Saturday.
SUNDAY’S GAMES
victory, the Kansas City Chiefs were determined not to give up the lead this time. The Chiefs had enough > Steelers capitalize points to win after jumping on Bengals’ miscues. C4 ahead 7-0 in the first 11 seconds, and they used relentless pressure, five turnovers and a ball-control offense to dominate the Houston Texans 30-0 in the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs on Saturday. They were especially cognizant of not letting up after blowing a 28-point lead in a loss to the Colts in their latest playoff appearance in 2013. See NFL • Page C4
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NFL
01.10.2016 • Sunday • M 2
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH • C3
NOTEBOOK Dolphins hire Bears’ Gase as new coach Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase was hired Saturday as the Miami Dolphins’ ninth coach since 2004, and he’ll try to end the team’s seven-year playoff drought. Gase was the NFL’s hottest coaching candidate among assistants, and at 37, he becomes the league’s youngest coach. He also interviewed with the Eagles, Browns and Giants and had been considered the front-runner for the Dolphins job. He was offensive coordinator for two years in Denver before joining the Bears. “I’ve been in this profession since I was 18,” Gase said at an introductory news conference. “That’s more than half my life. The last three years it’s an accelerated growth. Age is only a number. You get older really quick. Every week is a growing experience.” The Dolphins chose Gase after interviewing six other candidates. “I want to win Super Bowls, not just make the playoffs,” owner Stephen Ross said. “Adam Gase puts us in the best position to win Super Bowls.” Browns interview Patriots’ defensive boss • The Browns have interviewed New England defensive coordinator Matt Patricia for their head coaching job. Patricia is the fifth candidate to meet with the Browns, who began their search by speaking with Gase. Under Bill Belichick, Patricia, 41, has constructed one of the NFL’s best defenses over the past four seasons. The Browns have a track record with Belichick defensive assistants, hiring Romeo Crennel as coach in 2005, and Eric Mangini in 2009.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rams fans sign a banner in support of their team at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday in LA.
Coughlin to interview with Eagles • Tom Coughlin’s NFL coaching career began with the Eagles. Could it be heading there again? The Eagles have requested permission from the Giants to interview Coughlin for their head coach opening, and the Giants confirmed that permission was granted. Coughlin is expected to meet with the Eagles on Monday evening. Coughlin “stepped down” from his position as head coach of the Giants on Monday. He has one year left on his contract with the Giants, who control his rights and therefore must agree to any interview with another team. The Giants have offered Coughlin a position within the organization, but Coughlin noted on Tuesday that he could still want to coach. Giants interview Marrone • The New York Giants have interviewed former Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone for their head coaching job. The Giants announced Saturday that the current Jacksonville assistant coach met with team president John Mara and general manager Jerry Reese at the Giants’ headquarters. He is the fifth person interviewed since Tom Coughlin stepped down Monday. Giants offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, along with Teryl Austin of the Detroit Lions and Gase also were interviewed. Bucs talk with Koetter • A person with direct knowledge of the meeting says Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter interviewed Saturday for the San Francisco 49ers coaching vacancy. San Francisco is expected to interview former Raiders coach Hue Jackson on Sunday. From news services
Owners could block Inglewood project HOCHMAN • FROM C1
plan is just a bad as not having a stadium plan at all. In The Times, they quoted Goodell’s report, in reference to the St. Louis stadium proposal. It said the financing package includes a request for league funding — $100 million — in excess of the maximum provided under current league policy. You would think that with a sophisticated stadium plan, they could come to a compromise, compared to the helpless situations in San Diego and Oakland. Hey Goodell, you bungle so many other things, yet here’s a chance to save an entire city and market. But no, Goodell has lumped St. Louis’ stadium in with these other cities, calling them, again, unsatisfactory and inadequate. Smart people can only guess what will happen in Houston this week, when the owners vote on which Los Angeles project will be a reality: the Rams in Inglewood or the Chargers and Raiders in Carson. Yet so many contradictory things seem like certainties, such as: • San Diego is clearly the sentimental favorite among the owners to move to LA, because their owner is respected and they’ve tried everything, valiantly, to make it work in San Diego. • But if Stan Kroenke doesn’t go to Los Angeles, he won’t settle for a return to St. Louis, and wouldn’t be welcomed by the fans anyway. So he’d be looking to other markets constantly. It takes 24 of the 32 owner votes to pass a project. This is simply speculation, but here’s thinking there are at least nine votes to initially block the Inglewood project, and
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vote in favor of Carson. 1. The Chargers (obviously). 2. The Raiders (obviously). 3. The Panthers. Owner Jerry Richardson told the PostDispatch in November that he not only favored the Carson plan, but that he is in favor of the Rams staying in St. Louis. 4. The Texans. The powerful Bob McNair, the Texans’ owner, told the Houston Chronicle last month: “St. Louis, they have come up with a proposal that is getting pretty close, in my opinion, to being an attractive proposal. And if they do come up with an attractive proposal, then in my view, my personal opinion, I don’t think the Rams will receive the approval to relocate. “So that would mean then you’d have two teams, San Diego and Oakland, that would be going into Carson. They have a partnership to build a stadium.” 5. The 49ers. You would think they’d benefit from having the Raiders out of the Bay Area. And just last week, 49ers owner Jed York held a news conference, talking about how he exhausted options with San Francisco before finally moving his team to Santa Clara. The Rams have an option to possibly stay in St. Louis, so perhaps York would see that as the option that makes more sense for the league. 6. The Jaguars. One wonders if Shad Khan’s past battles with Kroenke would mean he votes against Kroenke here? 7. The Giants. Their owner reportedly was thrilled when Disney’s Bob Iger got on board with the Carson project. 8. The Steelers. Same scenario as the Giants. 9. The Chiefs. Would they want to control the NFL in the state of Missouri? OK. But it’s also been reported that Kroenke himself has nine total votes. So, in other words, the league’s owners would have to negotiate an outcome or compromise to get to the 24 votes for one side. At this point, who knows what could happen. I still wonder if the league will determine that the Rams and Chargers, not the Raiders and Chargers, are the best fits for LA. Last month, we learned that Kroenke offered 50 percent of his Inglewood stadium project to a second team, but with numerous asterisks that make Kroenke the majority profiteer. If the league is all about business, getting the Rams and Chargers ownership to play nice and be the LA bell cows could make more business sense than wedging the lesswealthy Raiders ownership into the LA mix. But there are so many moving parts with this — and moving parts of moving parts. So on Tuesday, the NFL and its reporters all will ascend upon Houston. The news out of there will change the landscape of America’s dominant sports league. Here’s hoping St. Louis and its fans aren’t shooed aside. But the business of the NFL is business. Not feelings. Benjamin Hochman @hochman on Twitter bhochman@post-dispatch.com
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