The Big Move

The Rams aren’t an NFL team. They’re house guests. They come and stay for a bit, make demands on your hospitality, and then move in with the next charitable party.

They’ve played in Cleveland, in Los Angeles, in Anaheim and St. Louis. And now they are bound for Inglewood, Calif., with the NFL’s blessing.

The NFL approved this move on Tuesday night and also gave the San Diego Chargers the first option of decamping to the L.A. fringe, while leaving the Raiders in Oakland. The Chargers, as an original AFL franchise, were born in L.A. but only stayed a year. The Raiders left Oakland for L.A. in 1982 and moved back in 1995, the same year the Rams pulled out.

L.A. is the second biggest market in the United States, but it has proven to be a failure for the NFL. Now it’s try, try again. After attempting to milk billion-dollar stadiums from St. Louis, San Diego and Oakland, it’s letting two teams share one building in a place where most residents will tell you support for a home team is tepid.

How many businesses can dictate – or try to – to government officials and taxpayers these sorts of terms, all the while allowing the value of franchises to multiply preposterously? Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys for $140 million in 1989; the franchise is now worth $3.2 billion, according to Forbes magazine. The average franchise value, Forbes says, is $1.43 billion. And these guys have the tin cup out for public dollars while threatening to take your team away?

Not a one of these vagabonds chasing L.A. is a success on the field. The Raiders haven’t had a winning record since 2002, the Rams since 2004. The Chargers have been in the playoffs once in the last six seasons and have never reached the Super Bowl. How about putting a quality product on the field?

It’s just business, and any fan that doesn’t know it will be parted from his money. You need to show up, win or lose. You need to pay, win or lose. Your support and your loyalty are supposed to blind you to avarice. Even if blinded, you will hear the rattle of the NFL’s tin cup.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman