The old saying that where there is smoke there is fire seems to be true in the sale of the St. Louis Rams.  It appears that the sale has gone from the kicking of the tires stage to an actual negotiation stage between the current Rams ownership group and multiple interested parties.  According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch this morning St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts and uber radio show personality Rush Limbaugh are joining forces in a group to purchase the Rams.

The joining of forces between Checketts and Limbaugh is interesting.  As I stated in an article in June I don't believe that Limbaugh buying the Rams would be a bad thing no matter which end of the political spectrum you might land.  Limbaugh clearly has a love for football and is an excellent businessman.  Those two attributes would make him an excellent owner in many ways.  How the other NFL owners would view having such a controversial figure in their "club" might be a different matter.

The bigger issue in the Checketts/Limbaugh group would be who will be the majority owner?  As stated by NFL rules even if you have a group ownership situation there still has to be a majority owner of the majority stake and you have to make payment in cash on hand for an estimated payment of $250 million.  I wrote back in June about Checketts probably not being in that class of wealth.  Limbaugh might be close to having that much wealth but it remains to be seen if he would have interest in putting that much of his worth into buying the Rams.

What was most interesting to me in the article by Jim Thomas and Jeremy Rutherford was the quote by Rams VP of Football Operations Kevin Demoff.  He stated that "There is no inevitability for the team to wind up being for sale anyway.  There may be bidders, but that doesn't mean there will be a sale.  Ownership has said all along it would go through this process and evaluate its options.  They are under no pressure to sell the team."

That quote is interesting to me for two reasons.  First does that mean that the Rosenbloom family is trying to keep the team and pay off the estate taxes due from the passing of Georgia Frontiere in some other way?  My guess is no, but if you were the Rosenbloom's why would you want to drive down the price if everyone thinks you "have" to sell.  The second thing that interests me is does this mean the Kroenke scenario is in play and that Checketts and Limbaugh are merely bidding for the minority ownership interests and Kroenke is getting the NFL to waive the cross-ownership rule?  This could be very likely.  It is a win-win-win scenario for all of the parties.  Kroenke gets control, Checketts and Limbaugh get into the NFL ownership game.

Some other things that should be mentioned around the sale are that there are some other groups out there that have kicked the tires on the Rams.  A group from London has reportedly made contact with the league to see about moving the team across the Atlantic.  As much as the NFL would love to move into Europe I don't think they are serious about that for another 25+ years.  Also there have been rumors about a group from Las Vegas showing interest.  That one also seems farfetched due to the economy and the gambling factor.

What is most encouraging to me on the Rams sale front is that there are two significant developments.  First there is a local ownership group, in Checketts and Limbaugh, that has come forward and wants to both buy the team and keep them in St. Louis.  That is HUGE.  Second the NFL has by all signs made it clear that they want to keep the team in St. Louis.  Despite the teams recent struggles they know this is a good NFL market and despite the stadium issue there is good long term viability for a franchise in St. Louis.  The stadium issue will have to be addressed in the next 10 years but everyone knows that and there is room to work on both sides.  As worried as St. Louis football fans have been about the sale it appears things are moving in a positive direction.

For more info: Get instant updates by Twitter here.  Also please join myself, Roland Williams, Mike Young and Moses with the Gridiron Gospel 10 AM-Noon before Sunday's Rams game on 1380 AM or at team1380.net