Goodell Addresses Rams Situation

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell gave his “State of the League” address on Friday, and the topic of the Rams came up during the questions session. I thought he had some interesting things to say on the issue, but if you were looking for him to say something to make you feel better about the situation, you are going to be disappointed. It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t think it was all that good, either. Here are some of his quotes from the presser, so you can make your own judgements.

(On if the league is committed to St. Louis)
The answer is we want to keep our franchises where they are. We would love to have the St. Louis Rams stay in St. Louis. There are lease issues … as you know that are articulated very clearly in the lease. Both parties are engaging in that, and they’re having that dialogue. We’ll allow that process to play out, and at that point in time we’ll be more clear about what the issues are and what we need to do to resolve them.”

(On the St. Louis market)
“Well, that’s a big region. Both the representatives of St. Louis and the team that relocated back into the St. Louis market — it was back in the mid ’90s — that’s what was agreed to and what the terms of the agreement dictate.”

(On the London games)
“Oh, we’re going to play the London games. We hope it will be with the Rams and the New England Patriots next year. That’s what we’ve planned. I think it’s great for the community of St. Louis to be able to get that global exposure. But there are issues that obviously have to be resolved. We know there are discussions going on. We hope that will get resolved shortly. And once that’s resolved, we’ll make decisions from there. But we will be playing in London next year.”