Rams Owner May Sell Part of Team : Football: Georgia Frontiere concedes she’s considering a partner, and says Anaheim officials must substantially improve their offer for the team to remain.
Georgia Frontiere, owner of the Rams, said Sunday it is looking ever more likely that the team will move elsewhere.
“It seems like that’s the way it’s going,” Frontiere said. “We’re losing money.”
Frontiere said she is now amenable to selling part of the team to facilitate such a move, a dramatic change from her stance four months ago.
“Yes, I must say it is,” Frontiere said in an interview. “I was really hoping things would work here. When friends and associates asked me earlier about the Rams moving, I told them I was doing my best to keep the team here.
“But now it’s obvious that would financially kill us--unless we come up with something different.”
Frontiere, displaying both confidence and candor in a lengthy interview with The Times, fielded all questions, and said:
* She remains insistent on not selling a majority interest in the team.
* She is open to selling a non-controlling interest should that be part of a solution to remaining in Anaheim or the L.A. area.
* She has already met with representatives of another city for the purpose of conferring with prospective partners. She has not, at this time, met with anyone from Baltimore.
* She has all but ruled out the Rams and Raiders uniting in an effort to build a stadium that would house both teams. She said the two teams couldn’t even agree on the staging of a charity game a few years ago.
* She empathizes with fans, who are disappointed with the team’s recent play, but believes the range of sports alternatives here make it tough for a football team to survive in Southern California.
* She is still reluctant to become involved in any litigation prompted by a move, but no longer regards it as an insurmountable roadblock in deciding to move.
* She views construction of The Pond of Anaheim as evidence that the city of Anaheim could keep the Rams if it were interested.
* She has been stung by the reaction of certain Anaheim city officials, and wonders if they are simply frustrated knowing they will not, or cannot, compete to keep the Rams.
* She does not expect taxpayers to subsidize a football team. But it’s business, she says, and both Baltimore and St. Louis have shown a willingness to do so because they miss having a football team.
Frontiere said she remains hopeful that Anaheim will compete with other cities for the team’s favor. But financial concerns led her last week to exercise an escape clause in the team’s lease for Anaheim Stadium.
The Rams served Anaheim with notice that they may leave in 15 months. The team paid the city $2 million as reimbursement for a $30-million bond used to expand Anaheim Stadium and lure the team here in 1980. The Rams must pay the balance of the bond if they elect to play elsewhere in 1995.
“We didn’t have any choice but to exercise the option, or we would have dropped deeper in the hole,” she said. “I’m aware of our financial situation and the projections for what we’re going to lose, and I should say, that gets your attention.”
The Rams turned a profit of more than $3 million last year, but expect to lose several million this year because of a 13% falloff in season-ticket sales, a $2-million loss in radio revenue, a $5-million increase in player payroll and a drop in TV revenue.
“I’m tired of losing (games), really tired of losing,” she said. “I want to win football games, and I have to find the environment or make the environment that’s conducive to winning. It costs money to get good players.”
The Rams paid $9 million recently to acquire the services of quarterback Chris Miller for the next three years, and won a bidding war for Dallas pass rusher Jimmie Jones with a $7.7-million payoff for the next three years.
“I’m always inclined to let things go on too long, let things drift. I’m reluctant to change; I didn’t want to move from Baltimore, I didn’t want to leave Los Angeles and now Anaheim. I’m determined to make things work, but what I’ve probably done is wait too long” to address the financial concerns the team has in Anaheim.
“Now I’m going to move in a positive direction whether we stay in Anaheim with a better deal or move elsewhere. At least I’m doing something, making something happen.”
Most observers believe Baltimore is the leading candidate to secure the Rams, but that might require a legal territorial battle with Redskins’ owner Jack Kent Cooke.
“I don’t know how I would react to litigation,” she said. “I don’t want complications with the league. I’m always interested in abiding by the rules. I’d prefer it not come to litigation, but to say that will stop me, I don’t know.”
John Shaw, Ram executive vice president and Frontiere’s top business adviser, told her recently that she might have to sell a share of her team if she opts to move. A partner would ease concerns over potential litigation and give a new city a rallying point.
Frontiere, who is approached regularly with offers to buy the Rams, has had no interest in taking on partners--until now.
“It’s something my husband, Carroll (Rosenbloom) believed in,” she said. “He never had partners. He said never buy stock unless you’re on the board or have control of the company. I very seldom use my powers as owner of the Rams, but I like to know I have them.
“But I’m more open-minded now than before. If we do decide to move to another city, both John and I now feel that someone in that city should have a vested interest--a small interest--in the team.”
While other cities make preparations to woo the Rams, many Anaheim officials have indicated that they oppose extraordinary financial efforts to keep them.
“It’s painful some of the things that have been said. Maybe part of it is their pride has been hurt. I don’t know if they have the ability to compete with other cities, and maybe their feelings are hurt because they know they can’t compete.
“But I’m not going to bow and scrape to the city, and ask, why don’t you like me anymore? There were a number of promises made to Carroll when he brought the team here and they’ve all been forgotten. There were going to be stadium improvements, practice facility improvements, the real estate . . .
“I know a lot of things are said in the heat of anger, and I’m a good forgetter. I went through this process with Carroll with the move from L.A. to Anaheim and remember all the bad things that were said about him.
“I’m still hopeful things can be worked out with Anaheim, although the city hasn’t done anything. We kept our promise and talked to no one before May 3. You know, I think the fans care more than the city realizes. And the city knows what we need; didn’t they just build an arena for the Ducks? (The city began building the arena before the NHL expanded.) I don’t suggest taking money away for something like that, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Shaw has suggested that Anaheim’s only remedy to what ails the Rams is a new single-purpose, state-of-the art stadium. The Rams believe the present circumstances at Anaheim Stadium favor the Angels.
“We’re the minor tenant,” Frontiere said. “I know a lot of people aren’t interested in football and won’t be interested in seeing money spent on a new stadium. And the recession hasn’t helped; California has a lot of problems.
“But I think Baltimore and St. Louis miss having a football team. The people seem eager to have it happen again.”
Season attendance at Ram games has plummeted in the past four years. The team has won only 19 of its last 64 games.
“I’m a fan and I’m not happy. If fans were really gung-ho for the team, though, win or lose, that might make a difference. It’s that way in some other cities . . . but there are so many alternatives in Southern California for people. It’s very, very tough.”
When pressed about her intentions, Frontiere did not waver.
“I’m looking for growth,” she said. “It’s like planting corn; if you don’t have fertile soil, how is anything going to grow? I’m meeting people. I want to know if I’m going to have a partner, and I want to know if they’re going to be in it for the ego or to win.
“I know how people feel, but what would they do if they were running a business and had a chance to explore different opportunities like this?”