St. Louis Is Game--but Are the Rams? : Sports: Officials in the much-maligned football town are pulling together to entice team away from O.C.

There’s a sports renaissance in St. Louis with the recent opening of the Kiel Center, a palatial, 19,260-seat arena for the National Hockey League’s Blues, and construction of a luxurious, 70,000-seat domed football stadium for . . . for . . .

Whom?

It’s amazing, really. Laughable to some. Seven years ago, when St. Louis had a National Football League team and its owner wanted a new stadium, bickering among politicians and apathy among fans resulted in no new facility and the team moving to Phoenix.

Seven years later, the city has no NFL team and is building a stadium many believe will be one of the nation’s finest--just another bizarre twist in the history of America’s most maligned football town.

St. Louis nearly blew its chance to lure the Los Angeles Rams this year because, until September, city and county officials couldn’t wrest control of the new stadium lease from a stubborn beer distributor who had the desire, but not the money, to buy an NFL team.

The city was considered a lock for an NFL expansion team in 1993, but conflicting ownership groups and financial problems doomed that bid. Charlotte, N.C., and Jacksonville, Fla., were awarded teams.

Then there were the St. Louis Cardinals. The Big Red, they were called. Or was it The Big Dread? They had only 10 winning seasons in 28 years (1960-87), never played host to a playoff game and had one of the most despised owners in professional sports.

Not much for the city’s NFL archives.

But strange things have been happening lately under The Arch. Politicians and business leaders are cooperating on the football issue. The beer distributor put his ego aside for the good of the city. Elected officials and community leaders have helped revive the spirit of St. Louis.

In short, the city has emerged from its football Dark Ages to become an extremely attractive alternative for the Rams, who are expected to decide soon whether they’ll remain in Anaheim or move to St. Louis or Baltimore.

“Will we get the Rams? Who knows?” said Al Kerth, spokesman for Civic Progress, a coalition of executives from the area’s 26 largest companies that has been extremely active in negotiations with the Rams. “Could we have done it any better? I don’t think so.

“Whether we’re successful or not, I’ve gone from thinking we’d never get an NFL team to being really confident we’ll get a team.”

But to grasp how far St. Louis has come in its quest for an NFL team, one must fathom the depths from which the city has risen.

The Futile Franchise

During the mid-1970s, when they enjoyed three consecutive winning seasons under Coach Don Coryell and made two of St. Louis’ only three playoff appearances, they were known as the Cardiac Cardinals because of a penchant for winning close, tension-filled games.

But for most of their St. Louis tenure, the Cardinals barely had a pulse. They went through nine head coaches in 28 years. Their play usually ranged from average--they hovered at or near the .500 mark for eight years--to mediocre. Remarkably, they went 4-9-1 for three consecutive seasons (1971-73).

Fans also perceived that the front office, headed by owner Bill Bidwill, was unwilling--and unable--to improve the team.

The Cardinals were notorious for their draft-day gaffes, which included wasting first-round picks on the likes of Tim Gray, a defensive back who was traded to Kansas City after one season; Steve Pisarkiewicz, a quarterback who was cut after three seasons; Steve Little, a kicker who was cut after two seasons, and Clyde Duncan, a receiver who caught only four passes in two seasons.

When asked about St. Louis’ picks, former Cardinal tight end Jackie Smith, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last summer, chuckled. “Elmer Fudd was picking them out,” said Smith, 54, who now works in the marketing department of a St. Louis-area riverboat casino. “It always seemed like they picked some guy no one had ever heard of to prove they had some mysterious way of judging talent, but so many never panned out.”

In a 1986 series examining the Cardinals’ woes, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch asked former Cardinal linebacker Tim Kearney whether Joe Sullivan, team general manager from 1972-82, knew anything about football. “To tell you the truth, I don’t think he knew if it was blown up or stuffed,” Kearney said.

Bidwill, who still owns the Arizona Cardinals, has been described as aloof and lacking in public relations skills. Though he made many charitable contributions in St. Louis, he is not remembered fondly.

“With any kind of marketing, this is a wonderful area,” Smith said. “But Mr. Bidwill abused these people so bad, and they still showed up. I don’t think he did it intentionally, but he almost insulted the fans on a regular basis by the way he did things. I don’t remember any fan appreciation days, and there were never any days to honor the great players.”

Said Charlie Gitto, whose Pasta House near Busch Stadium is frequented by many fans, professional athletes and coaches: “Bidwill just wanted your money.”

The Cardinals did not respond to several requests for an interview with Bidwill.

Expansion Follies

St. Louis lost the Cardinals in 1987 primarily because of a bitter battle between then-Mayor Vince Schoemehl and then-St. Louis County Executive Gene McNary.

Schoemehl wanted a new stadium downtown. McNary wanted it in the suburbs. Bidwill, tired of leasing Busch Stadium from a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch and cantankerous August A. Busch Jr., got sick of the whole mess and left.

That was a mere tussle compared to the heavyweight battle waged during the 1993 expansion race. But it wasn’t St. Louis vs. Charlotte, Jacksonville, Baltimore and Memphis.

It was St. Louis vs. St. Louis.

* Round 1: Fran Murray vs. James Orthwein. Murray, a Philadelphia entrepreneur, teamed with St. Louis beer distributor Jerry Clinton to form the St. Louis NFL Partnership in 1989 with an eye toward expansion.

But when Murray, who owned 49% of the NFL’s New England Patriots, ran into financial problems in 1990, Orthwein, a wealthy St. Louis businessman, was commissioned to shore up the St. Louis partnership.

Murray borrowed millions from Orthwein and couldn’t pay him back. Orthwein eventually foreclosed on Murray’s share of the Patriots and St. Louis partnership.

Down goes Murray.

* Round 2: Orthwein vs. Clinton. The two had a strong dislike for each other, and by September of 1993, Orthwein was so disgusted with the ongoing conflict that he sold his majority share of the St. Louis NFL Partnership to Clinton.

However, Orthwein retained his 65% share of the new stadium lease, which the Regional Convention and Visitors Commission signed over to Murray and Clinton in August, 1991. Clinton held 30% of the lease.

A draw.

* Round 3: Clinton vs. Stan Kroenke. Clinton couldn’t afford the $140-million fee for expansion. In October, 1993, just days before the league’s expansion vote, the Gateway Group, headed by Columbia, Mo., real-estate magnate Stan Kroenke, began pursuing a team.

But Clinton did not withdraw NFL Partnership’s application or give his share of the lease to Kroenke. Charlotte was awarded a franchise Oct. 26, and the league postponed its vote on a second team, giving St. Louis, many believed, a chance to get its act together.

But the city is on the ropes.

* Round 4: Clinton vs. Kroenke II. They couldn’t reach terms on the lease--Clinton wanted $3 million and 10% of the would-be team, Gateway offered $3 million and 5%--and the night before the second expansion vote, Clinton and Murray sent letters to NFL owners threatening legal action if Kroenke got the team.

He didn’t; Jacksonville did.

Loser by knockout: St. Louis.

“The league looked at us as completely disorganized and a situation in which they would get involved in another lawsuit--and that is a sorry state for the city of St. Louis,” Charles F. Knight, a member of the Gateway Group, said at the time. Clinton and Murray “continued to muddy the waters to the eleventh hour.”

St. Louis, reeling from the loss, needed some smelling salts.

“The community had lost all faith in the business leadership and some faith in elected officials,” Kerth said. “But things have turned around considerably.”

New Lease on Life

In the wake of the expansion disaster, St. Louis County Executive George (Buzz) Westfall and St. Louis Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. formed the nonprofit FANS Inc. (Football At the New Stadium) in an effort to settle the lease dispute and pursue an NFL team.

There was a glimmer of hope in January when Kroenke made a strong bid to buy the Patriots, but Orthwein, keeping a promise to favor local investors, sold them to New England-based businessman Robert Kraft.

FANS then shifted its efforts to the Rams. And the lease. The group made progress in June when Orthwein, who netted more than $50 million in his sale of the Patriots, gave his share to FANS for $1, but Westfall and Bosley could not reel in Clinton.

Sensing the stalemate, Rams President John Shaw broke off talks with St. Louis on Aug. 10, vowing not to negotiate until the lease was resolved. St. Louis responded quickly, appointing former Sen. Thomas Eagleton, a partner in a St. Louis law firm, as FANS chairman.

“The reason I was picked was I was not in tune to the whole saga,” said Eagleton, who for a short time served as running mate to Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern in 1972. “I had no pre-existing scars dating back to the expansion effort. I wasn’t on anyone’s side. I was a neutral party.”

The celebration came five weeks later when Eagleton, on Sept. 15, came to terms with Clinton. FANS gave the beer distributor $4 million and promised another $4 million if St. Louis were to obtain an NFL team. Clinton also received a luxury suite in the new stadium.

“It wasn’t my great talents or genius that brought it about,” said Eagleton. “I was just someone who could pursue it continuously to the exclusion of other distractions.”

It helped that Eagleton’s pitch came with a greater sense of urgency. By summer, Orange County had enhanced its offer to the Rams, and Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos had made several trips to meet with Shaw and Rams owner Georgia Frontiere.

“The phrase I used (with Clinton) was, ‘The train was leaving the station.’ ” Eagleton said.

Next stop: Los Angeles.

Football Town?

Eagleton, Kerth and two other St. Louis representatives traveled to Los Angeles on Oct. 12 and met for 4 1/2 hours with Shaw. In addition to offering the Rams all revenue from the new stadium, they outlined a plan to raise $60 million to $90 million to pay for the many costs associated with a move.

At least one hurdle emerged during the meeting: Fan support in St. Louis. Eagleton said Shaw “questioned whether St. Louis was an intense football town, and he said he thought Baltimore had a greater zealousness among fans.”

It’s an image St. Louis has been fighting ever since.

“St. Louis is a great, great baseball town, and few cities could rival their passion for baseball in any sport,” said NBC commentator Bob Costas, who has lived in St. Louis for 20 years. “Will it ever be as great a football town? No. Can it be a very good football town? Yes. The bad rap is because we had a comically poor franchise.

“The objective person would have to say the problem here was the Cardinal franchise, not the city of St. Louis. If you had been here, you would say it’s amazing fans supported them as well as they did with all they put up with.”

A study of attendance figures shows that crowds in St. Louis were a little better--and crowds in Baltimore not quite as good--as most people think.

The Colts regularly sold out Baltimore’s 60,000-seat Memorial Stadium during their glory years, when they played in five NFL championship games from 1958-70 and featured stars such as Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, Gino Marchetti and Art Donovan.

But in the 13-year period from 1972-84, the Colts (who went 72-115-1 in that time span) averaged only 47,186 fans per game, or 78.6% of capacity. St. Louis (91-95-3) averaged 45,240 fans a game, 90.5% of Busch Stadium’s 50,000 capacity, during the same period. Cardinal attendance tailed off considerably from 1985-87, amid Bidwill’s continual threats to leave, and the team has not fared well in Phoenix, either.

“I can understand why Mr. Shaw would question the resolve of fans in St. Louis,” Jackie Smith said. “But I don’t think he’d believe what he’d see if they came here. I think he’d be overwhelmed by it.”

One bartender has started a St. Louis Rams Fan Club, which meets on Sundays to cheer on the Rams. FANS has commitments to lease 90 of the 100 luxury suites and all 6,200 club seats in the stadium.

“This community is just waiting for the words, ‘Let’s go,’ ” Westfall said.

But if the Rams say, “Let’s stay,” or “Let’s go to Baltimore,” the comparisons to St. Petersburg, Fla., the city that built a beautiful domed stadium but hasn’t attracted a major league baseball team, will begin.

This is not a big concern for the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority. The football stadium is part of a convention center and sports complex.

Westfall said the stadium would actually be more profitable without an NFL team, because those 10 football weekends could be opened for conventions, which generate much more hotel and restaurant business--and tax revenue.

But this is not just about the bottom line. It’s about a city’s image taking a major blow.

“It doesn’t haunt me--I don’t wake up in the middle of the night screaming--but it’s a community hurt,” Eagleton said. “Here we have this tremendous stadium with no team. It’s like that old phrase: We’re all dressed up with no game to play.”