Why The Rams’ Situation Should Scare Every Single NFL Fan

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon nailed it in only 63 words.
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The recent breakup between St. Louis and the Rams is a classic example of an unrequited love -- the city did everything it could to sway its team to stay in Missouri, but thanks in large part to the strong stance of owner Stan Kroenke, the NFL franchise is packing up and heading west, moving 1,800 miles to sunny Los Angeles.

How far was St. Louis willing to go to keep its team nearby? Behind Governor Jay Nixon’s adamancy, the city was even OK opening up its wallet and footing a huge portion of the bill for a new stadium, if that’s what it took to keep the Rams in the Midwest. Alas, the lure of LA’s big market was too great, and on Tuesday night the final buzzer rang on the team’s time in St. Louis.

Many in Missouri are outraged about how the abandonment relocation process went down, but this is a complicated situation that is messed up for reasons that can be difficult to articulate. That is, unless you are Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon. He needed just 63 words to illustrate both how hurtful this decision currently is for his state and how harmful it may prove for other towns in the near future:

Tonight’s decision is disappointing, and a clear deviation from the NFL’s guidelines. It is troubling that the league would allow for the relocation of a team when a home market has worked in good faith and presented a strong and viable proposal. This sets a terrible precedent not only for St. Louis, but for all communities that have loyally supported their NFL franchises.

He’s right -- the league must follow a stricter protocol if it doesn’t want its relocation processes to devolve any further. For the next city’s sake, let’s hope that this process gets just a little bit less opaque and that a franchise's move never goes down this way again.

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