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St Louis Lawsuit News Report
In 2015, The St Louis Rams of the NFL officially relocated from St Louis, Missouri to Los Angeles. This move was heavily criticised by the local fanbase and set up what would become a lengthy divorce battle and could result in damages of a billion dollars and upwards. In 2017 the City of St Louis filed lawsuits against the Rams organisation, the NFL and the other 31 teams in the league. In this issue of Pub Convos lets talk about sports teams relocating, why they do it and what do people have to say about it.
Why do sports teams relocate?
There are many reasons as to why sports teams choose (or are forced) to relocate to other places. Most reasons are because of the bane of life that is money but there are some exceptions. Most teams relocate due to financial problems, and they are rescued by owners who do not associate with the locality of the team. For example, Manchester United was based in Newton Heath until 1902 when four businessmen decided to inject cash into the team and relocated the team to Manchester. Sometimes, teams relocate to bigger cities or metropolitan areas in hopes of generating more support and money for the team. Of course, it is not always the teams who do the leaving. Funding to keep stadiums running and pressure from local authorities play a contributing factor to teams relocating to a different place. In these instances, it is simply the city that does not want the team to be there.
Big (Controversial) Relocations
One of the most controversial relocations in association football is the relocation of Wimbledon FC based in southwest London to Milton Keynes a town 90 km from the original fanbase. This relocation was due to the fact there was a lack of support for a new stadium in Wimbledon and one was being built by a massive conglomerate in Milton Keynes. This is controversial as football teams in the UK have strong ties with the communities that it is based in and a relocation like this based on decisions by executives who have no interest in football. The team that moved to Milton Keynes was eventually renamed MK Dons and a new club was formed in Wimbledon where loyal supporters supported the reincarnation of the team from the grassroots of English football back to the big leagues. Relocations in the US are more common due to franchise system that the leagues operate in and the absence of promotion and relegation after each season. Apart from the St Louis Rams, the Oakland Raiders have recently relocated to Las Vegas, the Seattle Supersonics in the NBA relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder which broke the hearts of millions of fans in Seattle and the relocation of the Minnesota North Stars to Dallas in the NHL, robbing Minneapolis where hockey is the heart and soul of the community of its team. Naturally fans are gonna be pissed off when you move their favourite team halfway around the country. This brings us back to the lawsuit that the Rams filed, the case is set to be heard in front of a jury in St Louis but the NFL is appealing for it to be moved to a âneutral venueâ as they claim it is unfair given the fanbase in the city, The ironic part is when the Rams submitted a request to relocate, they stated that the city werenât committed enough to the team. The lawsuit goes on and may bring ramifications to the sports world but we will have to see.
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