Rams Make Presentations to NFL Owners : Pro football: Frontiere, Shaw dangle big financial carrot in front of their listeners.

NFL owners Thursday saw the meat of the Rams’ deal to move to St. Louis. Now they have to decide how big a slice each will receive.

Ram owner Georgia Frontiere and NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue made presentations on the move and its ramifications at Thursday’s special meeting. The session, which lasted nearly 6 1/2 hours, could lead to the owners getting a cash bonus and Raider owner Al Davis getting more leverage.

“There are a lot of implications and a lot of considerations,” said Tagliabue, who offered no recommendation with his report. “We felt it was important to just have a discussion and to give (owners) the opportunity to reflect and formulate their thoughts.”

Owners will vote on the Ram move at the league meeting March 12-17 in Phoenix, according to Tagliabue. The issue will probably be discussed at the league’s finance committee’s meeting March 1 in Dallas.

Money is at the heart of the matter.

“I told them that when they came to play in St. Louis, they would take home a check for $900,000,” Frontiere said after her presentation.

The share would be more than double the revenue for visiting teams coming to Anaheim last season, according to Ram President John Shaw.

That was part of Frontiere’s sales pitch. She spoke for 40 minutes and answered questions for another 40 minutes.

But owners might receive more. They discussed a relocation fee at Thursday’s meeting. The league billed the Cardinals $7.5 million when they left St. Louis in 1988 for Phoenix. The Ram fee could be higher.

Frontiere covered the details of the deal, signed Jan. 17. It’s a lucrative arrangement for the team, which could boost its annual profits to $20 million.

To help finance the deal, St. Louis will sell a one-time personal seat license to buy tickets. There have been more than 72,000 requests for the 65,300 seats in the city’s new stadium, which is scheduled to be completed in October.

That money, which is expected to net between $60 million-70 million, would go to the Rams as a relocation fee.

After Frontiere outlined the deal, she and Shaw left the meeting so other owners could discuss the proposal. The talks included how big a slice the league should ask if the move is approved.

“It was a subject that was discussed, not at great length, but it was part of the discussion today,” Tagliabue said.

And it will be discussed again.

“That will be brought up by the finance committee,” said San Francisco 49er President Carmen Policy, a committee member.

The committee also will discuss Stan Kroenke’s acquisition of a minority share in the Rams. Kroenke, a Missouri businessman, will pay $60 million for 30% of the team.

Said Tagliabue: “(The deal) could come before the broadcast committee, because of television implications, and the labor relations committee because of some of the collective bargaining agreement aspects.

“We’re at the initial stage of the process. Team relocation is an important matter. We want to have full understanding of what we’re looking at and understand the implications.’

Some of the implications seemed to concern Frontiere and Shaw. They met with Tagliabue Wednesday night and received a copy of the commissioner’s report.

“I think his view is there are other issues outside the criteria (for relocation) that would affect this situation,” Shaw said. “So he is evaluating those other issues.”

Topping that list would be the Raiders. The move would leave the Los Angeles area, the nation’s second largest market, a one-team city. That would give the Raiders, who have also talked about leaving, more bargaining power.

Davis supported the Ram move and was quick to compliment St. Louis officials’ effort to attract the Rams.

“A city that demonstrated what (St. Louis) demonstrated--a new stadium, sellouts and the enthusiasm of the community--is certainly admirable,” Davis said. “I have never been one to stop the free enterprise system from working.”

Other owners were more cautious.

“In general, I’m not in favor of teams moving,” Pittsburgh Steeler owner Dan Rooney said. “At this moment, we going to have wait and get all the information.”

Denver Bronco owner Pat Bowlen was more blunt.

“We don’t want teams to pick up and move at will,” Bowlen said.

But, like most other owners, Rooney and Bowlen said they had not decided how they would vote.

“It’s hard to tell (how they’ll vote),” Frontiere said. “I think they will do a lot of thinking and pondering and come up with the right answer. They will be in our favor.”