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Can Dave Checketts buy the Rams?
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Reports from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, this morning, say that St. Louis Blues chairman Dave Checketts is attempting to put together a group to buy the St. Louis Rams from the Rosenbloom family. Bernie Miklasz and Jim Thomas are both reporting that Checketts has already made contact with the Rams and Goldman Sachs to begin preliminary talks.
This news is terrific if Checketts can make it happen. If Checketts were able to pull this off it would be terrific for the entire city of St. Louis because he would essentially lock the Rams into the market because of the exact rules that forbid Stan Kroenke from becoming majority owner. If he wanted to move the Rams he would have to either divest himself of the Blues or sell the Rams to make the move and I can't believe that Checketts or any group he is involved with would do such a thing.
While it would be tremendous if Checketts were able to make it happen I have some doubts that someone like Checketts can do it. My first concern is that he doesn't personally have the capital to buy something like this. Although he is very wealthy you have to be uber-wealthy to buy an NFL franchise. Checketts is not. There were rumors as close back as 2007 that Checketts and his partners were running month to month, financially, with the Blues. If you are running that tight on an NHL franchise how can they even begin to think they could get an NFL franchise? That is a concern.
My other main concern is that the NFL does not like conglomerate ownership. They like to have one clear owner that they deal with and not a group of 5 different people running a franchise. It may be difficult to get league approval on a deal that would bring more people to the table from one franchise. I think the league doesn't mind dealing with a co-ownership situation but I don't know that they want a "corporation" running the team. One thing that will help in this aspect is that Dave Checketts does have a relationship with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. That has got to help considering the frosty relationship Paul Tagliabue had with the city of St. Louis.
As I stated in the article yesterday all is not doom and gloom on the Rams sale front. There is a long way to go before the team is actually sold and there will be some ups and downs along the way. I still hold fast in the belief that the Rams will remain in St. Louis for the foreseeable future. Dave Checketts, at the very least has sent a ray of sunshine into the proceedings.
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