The St. Louis Rams could become owned by Blues owner Dave Checketts and...

[owenbrown]

Rush Limbaugh?!




Rush Limbaugh, partner make bid to buy Rams

<!-- // Writer Attribution// --> Associated Press

Updated: October 6, 2009, 11:56 AM EDT

<script type="text/javascript"> //document.getElementById('number_of_comments').innerHTML = commentCount+" Comments"; </script> <!-- // Story Content // --> <script> if(fanid.length > 0 && typeof(nflDefaultLeague)!= "undefined") { leagueId = nflDefaultLeague; //find teamId of default league (if exists) for(var i=0; i < teamsInfo.length; i++){ if(teamsInfo[i][4] == leagueId){ defaultTeamId = teamsInfo[i][0]; } } var fantasyLeaguePlayerJsPath = 'http://msn.foxsports.com' + '/nugget/200002_' + leagueId + '|||' + fanid; } </script> ST. LOUIS (AP) - Green Bay Packers (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/green-bay-packers) fans are known as cheeseheads. Could fans of the St. Louis Rams (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/st.-louis-rams) soon be dittoheads?
<script language="JavaScript1.2" src="http://msn.foxsports.com/fe/js/lib/javascriptFlash/FSJavaScriptFlashGateway.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"> var userStatus='vote'; // if this poll is the one for which they have answered, show results if (typeof(pollsVoted)!="undefined") { for (var i = 0; i < pollsVoted.length; i++) { if (pollsVoted[i] == 10176782) { var userStatus = 'results'; break; } } } // has to have retry because hitbox code is defered. function hitBoxVote(m,p) { } var pollHeight = 0; if (pollHeight == 0) { pollHeight = Math.max(140 + (2 * 45) ); } var flashPollQuery='choices=2&questionId=522318&pollId=10176782&cUrl=&pgCode=null&categoryId=null&isNarrow=true&userStatus='+userStatus; var tag = new FSFlashTag("/id/8796869", 250, pollHeight); // movie path, last two arguments are width and height tag.setId('flashPoll'); tag.setFlashvars(flashPollQuery); tag.setWmode('transparent'); tag.setWmodeFF('transparent'); tag.write(document); </script><embed src="http://msn.foxsports.com/id/8796869" quality="high" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" flashvars="choices=2&questionId=522318&pollId=10176782&cUrl=&pgCode=null&categoryId=null&isNarrow=true&userStatus=vote" name="flashPoll" id="flashPoll" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="230" width="250">
Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Tuesday he is teaming up with St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts in a bid to buy the Rams (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/st.-louis-rams), owners of the NFL's longest losing streak at 14 and just 5-31 since 2007.
In a statement, Limbaugh declined to discuss details, citing a confidentiality agreement with Goldman Sachs, the investment firm hired by the family of former Rams (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/st.-louis-rams) owner Georgia Frontiere to review assets of her estate, including the NFL team.
Limbaugh also declined to discuss other partners that might be involved in the bid, but said he and Checketts would operate the team.
"Dave Checketts and I have made a bid to buy the Rams (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/st.-louis-rams) and we are continuing the process," Limbaugh said.
Forbes magazine has estimated the Rams (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/st.-louis-rams) franchise has a value of $929 million.
Frontiere's children, Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez, inherited 60 percent of the Rams (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/st.-louis-rams) when their mother died in January 2008. Columbia, Mo., billionaire Stan Kroenke owns the remaining 40 percent. It wasn't clear if the Limbaugh/Checketts bid was for 100 percent of the Rams (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/st.-louis-rams) or just the share owned by Rosenbloom and Rodriguez.
"Our strategic review of our ownership of the Rams (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/st.-louis-rams) continues," Rosenbloom said in a statement released late Monday. "We will make an announcement upon the completion of the process."
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello declined comment. Calls seeking comment from Checketts were not returned.


Limbaugh is a native of Cape Girardeau, Mo., about 100 miles south of St. Louis. He's so popular among conservatives — fans of his show call themselves "dittoheads" — that he has been called by some the voice of the Republican Party.
Limbaugh, who lives and works in Palm Beach, Fla., once worked for the Kansas City Royals and is an avid sports fan.
In 2003, Limbaugh worked briefly on ESPN's NFL pregame show, but resigned after saying Philadelphia Eagles (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/philadelphia-eagles) quarterback Donovan McNabb (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/player/70412) was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.
Checketts, 53, and his Sports Capital Partners and Towerbrook Capital Partners purchased the Blues in 2006 from Bill and Nancy Laurie. The Blues have gradually rebuilt under his leadership and made the playoffs last season for the first time since 2004.
Checketts first approached Rosenbloom in early 2009 about possibly buying the Rams (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/st.-louis-rams). Eric Gelfand, a spokesman for Checketts, said in June that Checketts had put together a group consisting of local and outside investors.
An NFL rule allows ownership of NFL teams and teams in other sports, but only if they are in the same market. That would be a problem if Kroenke wanted to become majority owner of the Rams (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/st.-louis-rams) because he owns the NBA's Denver Nuggets and the NHL's Colorado Avalanche.
Checketts' company owns Utah's Real Salt Lake Major League Soccer team. But an NFL spokesman has said the cross-ownership rule does not apply to the MLS.
The potential sale of the Rams (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/st.-louis-rams) has been rumored since Frontiere's death. Her children are both involved in other interests and neither has ties to St. Louis.
The sale has raised concerns in St. Louis, which lost the Cardinals (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/arizona-cardinals) franchise after the 1987 season when Bill Bidwill moved the team to Arizona.
The NFL passed over St. Louis for the smaller Jacksonville, Fla., market when it awarded an expansion team in 1993. Two years later, civic leaders convinced Frontiere, a St. Louis native, to move the team from Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest market, back to her hometown.
Los Angeles is still without a team, and a loophole in the Rams (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team/st.-louis-rams)' lease allows them to move as early as 2014 if the Edward Jones Dome is not deemed among the top quarter of all NFL stadiums. Though just 14 years old, the dome is fast becoming one of the league's older venues, and getting it into the top quarter seems unlikely.
Checketts became the youngest person ever to run an NBA team at age 28 when he became president and general manager of the Utah Jazz in 1984. He later ran the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden.

[SammyG]

As I said... that's fine with me, and I'm a Rams fan. Anything to get us SOME publicity.

[Droford]

This will start a bad trend of celebrities with more money than they know what to do with buying sports franchises...well technically the Dolphins already started it but that was only minority stakes in the ownership.

[BCWWF]

St. Louis needs the Rams, and Limbaugh is almost local, so I really don't think there's much to complain about.

[Skippord]

God I hate Rush Limbaugh

[Jeritron]

As I said... that's fine with me, and I'm a Rams fan. Anything to get us SOME publicity.

I don't think publicity is what a team needs. Look at the Cowboys. They get more publicity than anyone and they can't win shit

[Skippord]

especially the Rams

they're getting publicity now though as the worst team in football

[BCWWF]

The Rams need new uniforms (they might be the worst in football right now), and even though they have a newer stadium, they need a better one. They have the same situation as the Tampa Bay Rays, where they built an indoor one to lure the team, but now it has a terrible atmosphere.

[Kris P Lettus]

They already get "owned" by every team they play so it's not a big deal..

[BCWWF]

The NFLPA announced today that they don't support the bid because they don't want their owners to be dividing forces. Fair logic. Hope something gets worked out.

[Big Fat Mike]

Just remember, Dave Checketts oversaw a Knicks organization that sent a team to the NBA finals WITHOUT Patrick Ewing for much of that season. This is good news for the Rams.,

[Droford]

I personally think its a conspiracy given the NFL wants to move a team back to LA and the Rams lease on their dome is up in 2014. And if a team moves before then, they've already stated they'd like a team over in London, hence the games in London every year.

[DrA]

Owned.

[BCWWF]

I think it's safe to say that Jacksonville would be the first team moving anywhere at this point. I'd really be surprised to see the Rams leave St. Louis. It would be devastating to that city, and the fans who sell the stadium out every single week.

[DaveWadding]

Limbaugh gets the boot from prospective buyer collective, blames liberals and liberal media. Really.

[DaveWadding]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=4562338&type=HeadlineNews&imagesPrint=off

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Limbaugh: Checketts approached me

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ESPN.com news services

ST. LOUIS -- Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh blames others for being dropped from the group trying to buy the St. Louis Rams.

On his syndicated show Thursday, Limbaugh said he was approached by St. Louis Blues chairman Dave Checketts earlier this year about participating in a Rams bid. He also said Checketts assured him his involvement as a minority investor had been vetted by the NFL.

"I said to him at this meeting, 'Are you aware of the firestorm?' He said 'We wouldn't have approached you if we hadn't taken care of that," Limbaugh said.


Limbaugh added that Checketts had told him his involvement had been cleared at the "highest levels of the NFL."

Despite getting sacked, Limbaugh said he still loved the NFL and would probably be "the biggest non-paid promoter of the sport."

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay both expressed misgivings this week about Limbaugh's involvement. On Wednesday, Checketts said Limbaugh had been dropped from the bid.

During a 15-minute counterattack at the start of his show, Limbaugh said he believes he's been made an example by a players' union seeking leverage in talks over a new collective bargaining agreement. And he believed what happened to him was an illustration of "Obama's America on full display."

Racially insensitive remarks from the past brought down Limbaugh, who in 2003 was forced to resign from ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" broadcast after saying of the Eagles' Donovan McNabb: "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well."

According to transcripts posted on his Web site, in 2007 Limbaugh said: "The NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it."

Limbaugh blamed DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFLPA, whom he called an "Obama-ite," and the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, whom he referred to as "race hustlers," for Checketts' decision a day earlier to drop him. He said his sacking was an example of the political clout wielded by the Obama administration.

"What is happening to the National Football League, what is about to happen to it, has already happened to Wall Street, has already happened to the automobile business," Limbaugh said.

Limbaugh said he was victimized in the media by "misreporting, lying, repeating the lies while also saying 'Limbaugh denies,' repeating the made-up quotes, the blind hatred."

"Believe me, the hatred that exists in this is found in the sportswriter community, it's found in the news business, it's found in the race hustler business," Limbaugh said.

Limbaugh said Checketts telephoned on Tuesday, asking him to withdraw from the group. Limbaugh responded that he wouldn't withdraw and that Checketts would have to "go public and fire me," and thought the news would be made public Thursday morning.

Smith, the NFLPA head, last week voiced his objections to Limbaugh's bid with NFL commissioner, and urged players to speak out against Limbaugh's bid. Sharpton and Jackson also attacked Limbaugh's involvement, asserting that Limbaugh's track record on race should exclude him.

Limbaugh said the real reason he's out is the NFLPA's attempt to influence negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. He said Smith warned he would bring the White House into negotiations if necessary.

"It's designed to intimidate the owners, frighten the owners, and say 'We're running this league now, gang, not you," Limbaugh said. "This little warning shot fired across the bow to the owners, to say 'Get ready, here we come for the next collective bargaining agreement,' so we'll see how it all unfolds."

Limbaugh said he's "lost nothing" over the episode and vowed to continue being the "biggest non-paid promoter of the sport."

"On the other hand, our country has lost a great deal. A lot more than most people realize at the moment," Limbaugh said.

Limbaugh said the Checketts group had previously lost its lead owner, which must have at least 30 percent equity. He speculated that the lead investor had been global financier George Soros.

Limbaugh said Checketts and Soros were previously partners in a bid to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers and added Soros was "known politically for his left-wing slants."

"His politics fits in perfectly with what the National Football League is becoming," Limbaugh said.

The Checketts group is among a reported half-dozen bidders for the Rams, and would keep the team in St. Louis. The children of the late Georgia Frontiere, who inherited the team upon her death in January 2008, announced in June that they had hired the investment firm Goldman Sachs to review assets of the estate including the football team.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

[Emperor Smeat]

Limbaugh is an idiot. First he gets a job with ESPN as an NFL analyst and doesn't even last a month because he had to say something stupid. Never really apologized and years later assumes everyone would be happy with him as a co-owner. Turns out NFL remembered and now he blames everyone else and not how he tends to be a divider or someone who complains when someone else has an idea or plan different than his goals.

[BCWWF]

I think it is absolutely ridiculous that Limbaugh is blaming Obama—what???—for this happening? The best irony is that the exact free market system he preaches is what made this not work for him.

It's silly, because he had an opportunity to acknowledge that, gain some credibility, and calmly step down. Instead, other people exercising their right to free speech is Obama violating Rush's free speech.

I am seriously boggled how Obama became involved in this.

[McLegend]

It's just Limbaugh creating controversy for his show.

[Emperor Smeat]

It's just Limbaugh creating controversy for his show.

That's the main problem with him. If he doesn't get his way, he makes sure to stir as much of a nest as possible to make any small issue into a "us vs them" issue.

Main reason he didn't get accepted was years ago he said something very stupid about why black QBs are "favored" by the media and never apologized for it without making it seem like he was a victim.

[VonErichLives]

It's great that Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton are the moral compass of america.

Also funny that Limbaugh was approached, he didn't approach them.

"I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well,'' Limbaugh said. "There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."

Was that racist?

Anyway, kinda funny that I think this was the only group that might keep the team in STL...

WTF... move the team again? just fold them already... there ya go... fold them... and isn't there talk Buffallo needs to play in Canada? fold them also.

improve the level of play by having less teams!

[Gonzo]

Regardless of whether or not you consider those comments to be racist, I think they're borderline, they are indeed inflammatory in any event. Just as BCWWF said, the same system he preaches for worked against him regardless of the fact that he was approached or not.

This wouldn't have worked with Limbaugh whether or not Jackson or Sharpton interceded. There was too much internal resistance to Limbaugh's participation anyways.

[BCWWF]

VEL, Limbaugh was just going to be a partner in this ownership group. It wasn't reliant on him in any way. That's why the bidding group has continued on just fine without him.

The fact of the matter is that a bunch of conservative owners decided that having Limbaugh in the NFL ownership circle would hurt the league's image and ultimately its bottom line, and because of that he was taken off.

It really would have been a great time for Rush to gain some credibility. "See folks, this is how capitalism is supposed to work. Yeah, it sucks for me, but this is the system I love and if this is what they picked, I accept that."

Instead, "Obama and the media is trying to crush conservative America."

Come on.