After Anheuser-Busch, should we brace for the NFL Rams’ departure?
The SportsBusiness Journal reports today that the St. Louis Rams “have hired an investment bank to find a group of possible buyers; the Jacksonville Jaguars are once again testing the market; and well-publicized infighting among the five Rooney brothers could imperil their family’s 75-year-ownership of the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Does it mean that we should be steeling ourselves for another blow to civic pride?
Our follow-up story, which says that Chip Rosenbloom is insisting that the team is not for sale, also notes the following:
Chip Rosenbloom and his sister, Lucia Rodriguez, split the 60 percent ownership they inherited when their mother, Georia Frontiere, died Jan. 18 at age 80 after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. Stan Kroenke retained his 40 percent share of the team. The NFL requires all teams to designate a managing partner, and Rosenbloom is filling that role.
Rosenbloom has been steadfast in declaring his desire to keep the Rams in St. Louis. But his comments never have dismissed the possibility of a sale, presumably to an individual or a group that would agree not to relocate.
On April 25, in his first public appearance here since assuming his new duties, Rosenbloom told reporters at Rams Park, “I think that St. Louis is a great home for the Rams. I think St. Louis is as committed to the Rams as the Rams are committed to St. Louis.”
In May, Yahoo Sports quoted former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo as saying, “Georgia’s kids have decided to sell the team. I’ve talked to some people who are brokering things, and they’ve told me about the price and what the deal might entail.”
We’ve talked about this topic before, but this is a new development. Is it a development worth worrying about? Are we headed down a path that’s likely to end up in the team’s departure from the Gateway City? Or are the players sincere in wanting to keep the Rams here?
Kurt is the director of social media for the Post-Dispatch, where he has worked since August 2002. He's been a journalist since 1982, covering municipal government, courts, education and two hurricanes as a reporter before becoming an editor. 
I have been to some of these boomtowns Charlotte and Houston and they are full of plastic irritating transplants that all think there kids are going to grow up to be something great, when they will probably turn out to be superficial losers like themselves, and by the way those cities have horrendous slums that look like they are straight out of Calcutta, I mean STL we are not doing great, but those boomtowns aren’t all that great either,we do need to address our Balkanized county and STL’s independent city status, or STL city will continue to be strangled, Ihope the RAMS stay.