Rams Ready for Flurry of Talks About Moving

The Rams’ search for a new home picked up momentum Friday when a team executive met for the second time with a key Baltimore official and announced upcoming meetings or discussions with St. Louis and Hartford representatives.

“We are not dealing exclusively with Baltimore,” said John Shaw, Ram executive vice president. “St. Louis, Baltimore and Hartford are all very interested in pursuing the Rams.

“We have a meeting later this month with the political interests in St. Louis, and we have already met with the ownership group there. We will be talking to Hartford, too, although nothing is scheduled.”

Shaw, while declining to reveal their identities, said he also has been approached by several Los Angeles groups in recent weeks. The Rams played 34 years in Los Angeles before moving to Anaheim Stadium in 1980.

“They are looking for ways to keep us here, and have talked about building a stadium,” Shaw said. “They are serious, but I don’t know how competitive they can be because they are talking about private funds, and the cities we have been talking to have public funds to construct a stadium.”

Shaw said the Rams have not been approached by any California city offering public funds for the construction of a stadium. He said he has had no recent talks with the Anaheim officials, but expects the city to come forward for discussions.

Baltimore, St. Louis and Hartford have offered to build new stadiums with public funds, and Peter Angelos, the baseball Baltimore Orioles’ majority owner who is also attempting to purchase a National Football League team, met with Shaw in Los Angeles Friday to discuss a deal. Angelos was accompanied by his attorney, George Stamas.

Shaw and team owner Georgia Frontiere met Angelos for the first time May 12 in Los Angeles. Frontiere said she is willing to sell a minority interest in the Rams to facilitate a move, and last month’s informal get-together was staged to allow the parties to get to know each other.

Shaw said Friday’s meeting with Angelos and Stamas dealt with a number of issues but did not involve specific financial terms for a move to Baltimore.

However, Stamas’ presence is believed to be significant. The Baltimore-based attorney, who specializes in mergers and acquisitions, was the driving force behind Angelos’ purchase of the Orioles for $173 million last summer.

“We have had those kind of presentations and terms from other cities, but this was an overall look at the situation,” Shaw said. “They were negotiations, yes, to explore the potential for a move to Baltimore. But it’s a very difficult transaction and there are a still a number of issues on the table.

“It’s all exploratory, and I don’t anticipate a decision soon.”

The Baltimore investment group, which includes Angelos, author Tom Clancy and former Oriole President Larry Lucchino, would ideally like to purchase 100% of a franchise, but Angelos said the group would also buy a minority interest in the Rams.

“We want to buy all of a team, but if someone wants to work down, fine,” Angelos said in an interview last week. “If a team wants to sell 40-50%, I would consider that collateral to bringing it to Baltimore. If a franchise moves here, its financial success is absolutely guaranteed.”

Baltimore has offered to build a $160-million, 72,000-seat stadium with 108 skyboxes and 7,500 club seats next to Oriole Park at Camden Yards. It would be financed by a mixture of tax-free bonds, stadium revenue and special lotteries.

All revenues from tickets, skyboxes, club seats, parking and concessions would go to the team, which would have the option of paying for stadium maintenance and operating costs in exchange for no rent, or paying a percentage of income in exchange for free stadium maintenance and operations.

Sources familiar with Baltimore’s stadium lease project that a team could net about $15 million to $20 million a year in profits. The Rams, who have been plagued by four consecutive losing seasons and dwindling attendance, made a profit of about $3.5 million last year, and Shaw projects a substantial loss in 1994.

The Baltimore group has reportedly offered to buy the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for $200 million. Stamas, reached at his Los Angeles hotel, declined to comment on Friday’s meeting with the Rams. But he did say in an interview last week that he has had discussions with at least two other teams, besides the Rams and Buccaneers.

“It’s like three-dimensional chess,” Stamas said of Baltimore’s attempt to buy an NFL team. “We’re looking at several opportunities, and each one of those opportunities is looking at several opportunities. We’d love to be a part of the Rams organization. John Shaw and Georgia Frontiere are terrific people,” Stamas said.

Angelos said he is confident that the Rams are not merely using Baltimore for leverage to get a better deal, either in Anaheim or elsewhere.

St. Louis and Hartford also are offering lucrative deals. A $258-million, 70,000-seat domed stadium, with 101 skyboxes and 6,550 club seats, is under construction in St. Louis and is scheduled to be completed in 1995. It’s being paid for with state and local government-backed bonds.

All concession, in-house advertising, skybox and club seat revenue would go to the team, which would pay $250,000 per year in rent. About $75,000 in game-day expenses would be paid for, though.

House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo) announced in St. Louis Friday that he will lead a local delegation to meet Ram officials June 27 in Los Angeles. The group will include St. Louis Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. and St. Louis County Executive George (Buzz) Westfall.

There has also been some progress in settling a stadium-lease dispute that, to this point, has paralyzed the city’s efforts to negotiate with NFL teams.

James Orthwein, former New England Patriots owner, agreed Friday to turn over his 65% of the lease to FANS Inc. (Football At the New Stadium), a nonprofit group formed by Westfall and Bosley that has been working to move the lease into neutral hands.

Jerry Clinton, a St. Louis beer distributor and aspiring NFL owner, still controls 30% of the lease and has been seeking some $8 million to relinquish his share. City officials had previously offered $3.5 million, and an agreement has not been reached.

City officials also confirmed Friday that Stan Kroenke, a Missouri businessman who headed the Gateway Group’s failed bid for a St. Louis expansion team last fall, has had discussions with Rams officials.

Connecticut Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. has reportedly had two discussions with Shaw regarding a possible move to Hartford, where the state Legislature has authorized $252 million in general obligation bonds for construction of a 70,000-seat, 140-skybox stadium and an adjoining practice facility.

The team would receive all revenue from concessions, parking, skyboxes, club seats and in-house advertising but would pay $4.9 million annual rent.