The owner of the St. Louis Rams plans to build an 80,000-seat NFL stadium in Inglewood, California, which could clear the way for a relocation of the team as soon as the 2016 NFL season, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Stan Kroenke, in conjunction with Stockbridge Capital Group, owners of the Hollywood Park Racetrack, told the L.A. Times that a plan to build the state-of-the-art stadium is in place and that it will be built on a 60-acre plot of land adjacent to The Forum in Inglewood.
The announcement by Kroenke and Stockbridge doesn’t necessarily mark the end of the line for the NFL in St. Louis, but this puts plenty of pressure on the city to invest in improvements on the Edward Jones Dome or a new stadium, as soon as possible. Previous efforts to reach a deal with the team deteriorated, although the city is expected to make another proposal at the end of the month, according to the L.A. Times.
Dave Peacock and Bob Blitz, the executives in charge of the St. Louis stadium proposal, released a statement Monday afternoon reaffirming their commitment to keep an NFL team in the city:
“We are ready to demonstrate our commitment to keeping the NFL here, and to continue to illustrate why St. Louis has been and will always be a strong NFL market. We will present a plan to Governor Nixon this Friday as scheduled, and we expect that it will meet his criteria, thereby allowing us to share our vision with the public shortly thereafter.”
