As rumblings about a potential Rams move to Los Angeles persist, the city of St. Louis and the state of Missouri are taking a proactive approach to attempt to keep the franchise in the midwest. As Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com details, Missouri governor Jay Nixon spoke to reporters on a conference call today to discuss the city’s and state’s plan to keep the Rams. According to Nixon, former Anheuser Busch president Dave Peacock and local attorney Bob Blitz have been appointed to spend the next two months putting together options for the city’s next stadium solution. The team’s current lease on the Edward Jones Dome expires at season’s end.
“Make no mistake about it, St. Louis is an NFL city,” Nixon said. “Being an NFL city is a matter of civic and state pride and one of international significance. An NFL team in St. Louis sends a clear signal that this city is a worldwide player and sets it in a special class when it comes to a competitive, global marketplace. The economic impact of the Rams team in St. Louis extends long beyond Sunday afternoon and sends a clear signal that this city is a worldwide player.”
Here are a few more Wednesday items from across the NFC:
- Cowboys wideout Dez Bryant, who hired Roc Nation Sports to represent him as he approaches free agency, will be repped by CAA’s Tom Condon and Roc Nation’s Kim Miale, tweets Liz Mullen of the SportsBusiness Journal.
- Appearing on The Ticket KTCK-AM 1310 in Dallas, TheMMQB.com’s Peter King suggested he thinks running back Adrian Peterson will play for the Cowboys at some point. While he stressed that he doesn’t have any inside info, King said that he’s always viewed it as a likely scenario, even before “Jerry [Jones] had that silly flirtation with him last year” (link via the Dallas Morning News).
- Following up on a report suggesting that the Eagles were souring on Nick Foles even before his injury, Howard Eskin of 94WIP (Twitter link) says he spoke with multiple team sources and was told the Eagles never discussed making a change to Mark Sanchez prior to Foles going down with a broken collarbone. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily contradict yesterday’s report, which seemed to suggest the club was considering longer-term alternatives to Foles, rather than a short-term change.
- Although running back Marcus Lattimore never played a game for the 49ers, the team paid him his full salary during his two years on the non-football-injury list, and won’t try to recoup any of his $300K signing bonus, says Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter links). According to Rapoport, Lattimore will also seek payment on his $1.7MM disability policy, and has a “great chance” of receiving that.