Baltimore Move Might Be Hard to Bring About : Rams: Washington Redskins’ planned shift to Laurel, Md., could make Memphis or St. Louis easier options.
One reason the Rams are considering leaving Anaheim is team executives don’t believe the Los Angeles area can support two professional football teams.
But can Maryland?
This could be a key question if a Rams-to-Baltimore move is discussed over the next few months, and the likely answer from the NFL would be:
Not so fast.
A high-ranking NFL official recently told The Times that the Rams “wouldn’t have any problems” leaving Anaheim, but if their destination is Baltimore, as has been widely speculated, they could face a giant hurdle in the form of Washington Redskin owner Jack Kent Cooke.
Cooke recently announced plans to move the Redskins out of RFK Stadium and into a new, 78,600-seat, 300-luxury-suite stadium in Laurel, Md., 20 miles northeast of Washington, D.C.--and only 20 miles south of Baltimore.
This is not the first time Cooke has threatened to move the team. Since 1988, he has announced plans for two stadium projects, one in the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Va., and the other near Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia, about 30 miles west of the city. Both plans fell through.
But the Laurel project, which would turn the Laurel Race Track into a complex similar to the Meadowlands in New Jersey, seems to be gaining momentum. An environmental impact report has been completed, and legislators in the Maryland suburbs have embraced the project.
Cooke has set up an office in Laurel to lease luxury suites in the proposed stadium, and he also has begun purchasing land at the Laurel site--a step he never reached in the two previous projects. He hopes to break ground this summer and begin play there in 1996.
Cooke also said he made “positive” progress at a Monday meeting with Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer, who has adamantly opposed Cooke’s plan for fear it would dash his hopes for bringing a team to Baltimore, which recently lost out to Charlotte and Jacksonville in the bid for NFL expansion teams.
NFL franchises are not subject to territorial rights, but proximity to another team is one of the factors the league considers in evaluating transfers. The Rams would likely have a much more difficult time moving to Baltimore if the Redskins moved to Laurel.
But Herb Belgrad, chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority, is convinced Maryland could support two NFL teams.
“The Redskins have 48,000 on their season-ticket waiting list, and we sold out 108 skyboxes (in a proposed new stadium) in six weeks,” said Belgrad, whose group has been exploring options of bringing a pro football team to Baltimore.
“The Redskins have always had a Southern Maryland and Virginia market, and our market is distinct and separate. Even when the Colts left here (in 1984), the Redskins didn’t see a change in the composition of their fans. So I don’t see (a Redskin move to Laurel) as a deterrent.”
Two NFL owners who were reached Thursday, Pat Bowlen of the Denver Broncos and Dan Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers, declined to speculate on a possible Ram departure or whether the league would approve two teams in Maryland.
“None of us have much information on it, so we’re all a little in the dark,” Bowlen said. “I haven’t seen anything solid that would represent that (the Redskins or Rams are going to move). But it’s quite evident Baltimore wants a team and is prepared to go to any extent to get one. That’s all I know for sure.”
Baltimore will begin construction of a $165-million, 72,000-seat stadium, including 108 skyboxes, in the Camden Yards area as soon as it secures a team, and a rent of $1 per game will be charged. The city would also give a team all ticket, luxury box, parking and concession revenue.
Belgrad was aware of the Rams’ announcement that they were invoking an escape clause in their lease for Anaheim Stadium so they can explore the option of moving, but he said there has been little actual discussion between the two sides.
“I think we’ll be talking with the Rams, but after we lost a team nine years ago and went through the expansion race, we’re going at it very cautiously, very slowly,” Belgrad said. “Our package was on the table for expansion, and every franchise knows what we’re offering. It’s not necessary for us to come back and repeat it, because we can’t better that offer.”
Officials from Memphis Pro Football, Inc., which joined St. Louis and Baltimore in the expansion losers’ bracket, are taking a similar tack toward the Rams. The group, headed by cotton merchant William B. Dunavant, had leased 100 skyboxes and promised a $60-million renovation in the 68,000-seat Liberty Bowl in hopes of luring a team.
“I don’t think there has been any kind of rush to get involved with (the Rams) but we’re going to look at them,” said Pepper Rodgers, a former coach who is the group’s spokesman. “We don’t know if the Rams want to sell the team, move the team, or use us as sushi. No one knows where they’re coming from.”
Rodgers said the group’s efforts were contingent on owning a team but added, “If someone wants to move a team here, Billy Dunavant has said he would gladly step aside.”
Officials from the Gateway Group in St. Louis, where construction already has begun on a $258-million, 70,000-seat domed stadium, could not be reached Thursday, but it is believed their efforts have been focused on luring the New England Patriots.
Greg Aiello, NFL director of communications, said “it would not be proper to comment any further at this point” about a potential Ram relocation.
* RAMS GIVE NOTICE: Team tells city it will invoke escape clause in stadium lease May 3. A1
