Posts Tagged ‘Stan Kroenke’

JIM LEYLAND AND RED SCHOENDIENST

Arizona Cardinals’ former chief Bill Bidwill has the onset of Alzheimer’s, according to Johnny Roland, who was on hand Sunday night at the Baseball Writers Association dinner and Tony LaRussa Roast at the Millenium Hotel.  Roland, a onetime running back with the team, predicted that Albert Pujols will sign. “He’ll take home field advantage, because of his love for St. Louis,” said Roland.  Turning to the Rams, Roland said, “(Stan) Kroenke will put his foot down now that the team is all screwed up.” During the cocktail reception preceding the awards dinner, Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland told the columnist, “We need one pitcher and we’ll be ready to compete.”

JOHNNY ROLAND AND GRANDSON, ADAM

Leyland was one of the LaRussa roasters.  Celebrated artist Dan Martin was in a confab with the Cardinals PR/civic affairs pro Ron Watermon, who once dittoed for the late county exec Buzz Westfall. During the dinner, Pujols and Yadier Molina were presented Rawlings Gold Glove Awards.  The sporting goods manufacturer’s senior veep Michael Thompson said the firm has now created a new minus-3 collegiate bat and a football helmet with all-new padding and cooling systems.  With Cardinals and Blues exhibits already built in the Sports Hall of Fame at Scottrade Center, its founder Greg Marecek said a St. Louis Hawks basketball team exhibit is on the drawing boards. Another great feat chalked up for Marecek, who had sold KFNS radio for $11.5 million at the right time.  Here ‘n there were Lynn Broeg, widow of popular sports scribe Bob Broeg, the ultimate baseball writer Rick Hummel,

DAN MARTIN AND RON WATERMON

photog extraordinaire Bill Greenblatt, and no-nonsense St. Louis Police Sgt. Tony Aubuchon, who maintained peace among fans outside the ballroom.”There’s no one so fanatic as a rabid fan,” he confided.  Cardinal headliners were sequestered in a room off the dais, while Pujols remained up in his room, said Aubuchon.  Why not?  If our town ever had an ambassador who commanded respect, it’s Albert.  The gap he will leave behind in the skyline will be his monument. ‘Meantime, the big rumor sweeping the crowd was that only six guests for each of the 15 recipients of the Medal of Freedom, including our own Stan Musial,  will be invited by the White House for the event.

Stan Kroenke, whose bid to acquire complete ownership of the St. Louis Rams could be decided by the NFL’s  owners this month, showed up in some prestigious company over the weekend. Irv Moss‘s feature for the Denver Post added Enos Stanley Kroenke to a very short list of that city’s top sportsmen, including Carmelo Anthony (now pondering a 3-year extension contract with the Nuggets), Todd Helton (Rockies All-Star currently on a physical rehab assignment with  the Casper Ghosts), and Roy Halladay (Denver area high school phenom now playing for the Phillies).

A somewhat confusing article in the national Sports Business Journal this week may shed some light on the football futures of the heirs of the late Georgia Frontiere.  According to writer Daniel Kaplan (who, like the columnist, does not reveal sources), Missouri real sports/estate exec Stan Kroenke has proposed to match a February 2010 offer for the St. Louis Rams made by Illinois auto parts magnate Shahid Kahn to purchase some of the team over time, paying interest to Chip Rosenblum and Lucia Rodriguez for their continuing to own an unspecified portion of the team for an undisclosed amount of time.  The article, if accurate, suggests that Georgia’s heirs could remain minority owners of the Rams for a while, no matter who buys it.  That’s good news for people who like the unassuming duo.

Stan Kroenke, the Columbia, Mo., businessman who plans to purchase the 60 percent of the St. Louis Rams he does not already own, has picked up some impressive endorsements.  KSLG (Team 1380 AM) sportstalker Kevin Slaten is reminding his listeners that Kroenke was instrumental in bringing pro-football back to St.Louis in the first place,  while Sports Illustrated writer Peter King is telling his readers that he believes that Kroenke’s bid to buy the Rams will be approved by the National Football League.  Mayor Francis Slay, who has not been shy about wading into the local sports scene, weighs in on his blog (mayorslay.com) with a personal opinion: “Two potential newmajority owners have emerged.   One (Kroenke) is a familiar billionaire face with generally unknown, but demonstrably successful views.  The other (Kahn) is an unfamiliar very, very rich face with widely known, but generally untested views.  If both men agreed to  (fielding a good team and keeping it in St. Louis) I think I’d pick the tested billionaire owner.  Or his billionaire wife, billionaire offspring, or other face-saving arrangement (short of swapping teams with the owner of the Broncos) that satisfies the inconsistently applied no-cross-ownership-in-the-same-market-as-another-owner rule.”