The longer Stan Kroenke stays quiet the more it looks like Rams to Los Angeles

BY VINCENT BONSIGNORE

St. Louis Rams’ owner Stan Kroenke hasn’t uttered a word about his ultimate plans for his franchise – whether he intends to stay put in St. Louis or relocate them to Los Angeles, as seems to be the case now that Kroenke has partnered with the owners of the land at the old Hollywood Park Race Track in Inglewood to build an 80,000-seat football stadium.

Kroenke has said nothing – not in public and not to Missouri leaders scrambling to put together a stadium plan to keep the Rams along the banks of the Mississippi River or at least pick Kroenke’s brain to figure out what he is thinking.

“(Kroenke) hasn’t responded, he hasn’t called back, he hasn’t done anything,” said Maggie Crane, the spokesperson for St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, told local reporters.

In fact, Kroenke isn’t returning their calls, leaving everyone, including Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, completely in the dark.

Nixon’s two-man task force made up of former Anheuser-Busch president Dave Peacock and attorney Bob Blitz is expected to present him with a plan they believe solve St. Louis’ stadium issue later this week.

They just wonder if Kroenke wants anything to do with them anymore considering the cold shoulder he is giving them.

And that silence is defeaning.

“After a while, you sort of get the hint,” Jeff Rainford, the mayor’s chief of staff, told reporters.

As a result, city and state leaders now plan to work directly with the National Football League on their stadium plans. Whether it works out with the Rams has seemingly become secondary to convincing the league St. Louis remains a viable NFL city.

Whether to keep the Rams or possible attract another team.

“The NFL can make money in St. Louis,” Rainford said. “It may end up being the Rams with this owner, the Rams with a different owner, a different team with a different owner.”

At this point, it doesn’t look like it will be the Rams.

Kroenke hasn’t said that.

But then, he probably doesn’t need to.

His silence says everything.