Rocky Landing Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Having lived in Los Angeles for the last 25 years, this is great news to me. I'll always be a Bills fan first, but now I can be a fan of two teams that won't make the playoffs, year, after year, after year...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Yep! They traded for Moses Malone and kept him for a grand total of two games. and he sat on the bench for both games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 (edited) #1 - STL fans can start by blaming themselves. NOT one single sellout this year. #2 - STL fans can blame their elected officials who kept playing hardball knowingly approving plans that came up short financially, even though the current lease spelled out exactly their obligations to keep the team..... FOR THE SECOND TIME.....that's how they lost the cardinals to Arizona. #3 - STL fans likely will never get another NFL team. the league will go to London, England or Toronto before they go back to STL. How many games would most cities (including Buffalo) sell out, with a losing team, knowing that in all likelihood, "their" team was packing up and moving at the end of the season? My personal opinion is that Kroenke wanted out because all the money he could make in LA, and there wasn't really anything St Louis Rams fans could do, that would have changed that. Fans are the last ones who should be blamed. Edited January 13, 2016 by Buftex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4merper4mer Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Pegula is a vast improvement over the previous owner who had no problem voting down other owners' moves while himself threatening to move whenever he wanted better stadium accommodations. Your team's owner is a fat drunk whose team Ralph saved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandler#81 Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 It's amazing how many fans of football there are who seem to have no sense of AFL/NFL history. Our work is never done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 As usual, WEO cherry picking his facts. The Bills were valued at just under $800MM just before Ralph's passing. They sold for $1.4B. When the NFL's least valuable franchise sets a new NFL franchise record (for team only, no stadium or real estate) then every NFL franchise gets a huge bump. Those are facts, WEO. Here's another fact, the NFL tolerated the Bills only out of respect for Wilson. Sure the team was worth a nice chuck of change in Buffalo but it would be worth 2X that in Los Angeles just by moving. As I quoted earlier, the NFL's business is the NFL. There was nothing holding the Bills in Buffalo but Ralph Wilson. Name two NFL rivalries that mean anything anymore. Bills-Miami? Please. That's been dead since the 90's. In fact I'm in favor of swapping with the Ravens and moving the Bills to a more geographically based AFC North. We belong with Pittsburgh, Cleveland and CInci more than Boston, New York and Miami. Your first paragraph is correct. Your second paragraph is the opposite of "fact"--it is a complete fabrication. The NFL had nothing to do with keeping the Bills in Buffalo--no matter who the owner was. They couldn't mandate the Bills to LA--WIlson or Pegula. So, really, I'm hardly "cherry picking" amongst your "facts"... He could have had the team for 1b. He had the team for 1b. There was no one else it was going to. He just chose to spend 1.4 because he wanted to, and didn't care, he just wanted it over. He basically gave that much away for free. That is not because he ONLY wants to make money as you say. Was this reported as such? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26CornerBlitz Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 Praise on the way in and ridicule on the way out. The cycle is now complete. St. Louis politicians blast NFL, Rams after Los Angeles relocation St. Louis politicians blasted the NFL and the Rams for relocation to Los Angeles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deranged Rhino Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Having lived in Los Angeles for the last 25 years, this is great news to me. I'll always be a Bills fan first, but now I can be a fan of two teams that won't make the playoffs, year, after year, after year...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarleyNY Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 A little history on the Rams: 1936-1945: Cleveland Rams 1946-1994: Los Angeles Rams 1995-2015: St. Louis Rams 2016-?: Los Angeles Rams I feel for the fans in St. Louis, but it was really Los Angeles's team to begin with. I don't really consider them Cleveland's team because they left when the Browns began because they didn't think they could compete. Plus they were in LA almost 50 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFunPolice Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Speaking of rivalries, wasn't the original idea for divisions this? AFC North Buffalo Cincinatti Cleveland Pittsburgh AFC East NE* Miami NJ Baltimore But the NFL swapped Baltimore and Buffalo because Mr. Wilson wanted to keep the Bills/Dolphins rivalry intact? I totally get why (at the time) the Miami/Buffalo rivalry mattered. However, how cool would it be to be in a division with the Bengals, Browns, and Steelers? Easy on the fans of all teams to travel to away games too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Speaking of rivalries, wasn't the original idea for divisions this? AFC North Buffalo Cincinatti Cleveland Pittsburgh AFC East NE* Miami NJ Baltimore But the NFL swapped Baltimore and Buffalo because Mr. Wilson wanted to keep the Bills/Dolphins rivalry intact? I totally get why (at the time) the Miami/Buffalo rivalry mattered. However, how cool would it be to be in a division with the Bengals, Browns, and Steelers? Easy on the fans of all teams to travel to away games too. It mattered most when both teams were winning with future HOF QBs. Tossing the Bills in with other rust belt cities isn't going to create some new hot rivalry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 It mattered most when both teams were winning with future HOF QBs. Tossing the Bills in with other rust belt cities isn't going to create some new hot rivalry. Nope, who could get excited about Bills-Browns and Bills-Bengals twice a year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papazoid Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 i can't see Spanos giving up the option to go there and then having two competing franchises that close in LA i agree with ya.... Spanos was already willing to share the LA market with the raiders. makes little sense that he wouldn't be willing to do the same with the Rams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aristocrat Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Nope, who could get excited about Bills-Browns and Bills-Bengals twice a year? would have been nice for a couple more wins a year for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Was this reported as such? Yes. Bon Jovi's group came in at 1.05. Trump was right around 1b. Golisano never even bid. There was one late bid that was a little over a billion. The whole thing happened in a couple hours. Pegula just said how much to end it now, they said 1.4 and it was done. This was one article that tells about half the story. I don't have time to look it up but the "how much will it take to end this" was reported. http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills-nfl/pegulas-submit-aggressive-14-billion-bid-to-acquire-bills-franchise-20140909 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob in STL Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 #1 - STL fans can start by blaming themselves. NOT one single sellout this year. #2 - STL fans can blame their elected officials who kept playing hardball knowingly approving plans that came up short financially, even though the current lease spelled out exactly their obligations to keep the team..... FOR THE SECOND TIME.....that's how they lost the cardinals to Arizona. #3 - STL fans likely will never get another NFL team. the league will go to London, England or Toronto before they go back to STL. I take some issue with #1 and #2. The attendance was very good for a team that in not very good, especially with a fan base that has to deal with talks of a move for the past several years. The owner sold them out and publicly stated he was moving the team on many occasions. What would have happened to attendance in Buffalo given the same circumstances? The politicians did what politicians do. The team had impossible demands to meet. The current dome in St. Louis is a fine venue for a dome. It would be extremely wasteful to have to build another stadium here to keep the RAMS but that is what the city was up against. St. Louis got jerked around at the last expansion when the NFL chose Jacksonville, clearly a mistake. Remember the people here got swindled into buying PSL's, that gave them the "right" to buy seats. The NFL cashed in big on the Rams move to St. Louis and will cash in big on the move back. I have lived in LA, Baltimore, St. Louis and Buffalo. LA has the worst fan base for the NFL. St. Louis is a pretty good football market, there are still St. Louis Cardinals fans out here. By the end of their 2nd losing season in LA no one will care about the Rams in LA. The stadium will be empty again. There will most likely never be another NFL team in St. Louis. I will agree with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFunPolice Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 I am so happy the Pegulas bought the team! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rstencel Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Recall who stole the Buffalo Braves. Still stinks. By the way, why is the NFL so against expanding? The NFL's official position has been as follows: We want to return to the Los Angeles market. We want to have a team in London some day. We want our teams to stay in their existing markets. We do not want to expand. Can't do all four. Wonder which position is BS? Well technically they were traded owners with Boston to stop Boston from moving, so even though was buffalo that moved, it was Boston's owner that moved them, as NBA didn't want to loose that city but didn't mind loosing ours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26CornerBlitz Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 @AP_NFL With Rams returning to LA, challenges abound for 3 NFL teams http://apne.ws/1PbvKsc @apschuyler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djp14150 Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 It mattered most when both teams were winning with future HOF QBs. Tossing the Bills in with other rust belt cities isn't going to create some new hot rivalry. Wilson wanted to keep his current division teams. Buffalo already had Pittsburgh and Cleveland rivalry. Buffalo vs Pittsburgh is probably the most heated rivalry for non-division and non within state rivalries in the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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