Sports — Blog — Chris Luecke

Earlier this month, my hometown St. Louis Blues won their first Stanley Cup in their 52-year franchise history. In true St. Louis sports fashion, their road to the Cup was nothing short of magical. On January 2, 2019 – halfway through the season – the Blues were dead last in the league. Their head coach had been fired in November. The team lacked a cohesive identity and looked more competitive when they were fighting each other at practice than when facing their opponents on the ice. The idea of the Blues even making the playoffs was simply laughable.

Then on January 7, a rookie goaltender named Jordan Binnington stepped in front of the net for his first NHL start and recorded a shutout…

Great. Another St. Louis Rams relocation article. Seriously, this happened a week ago! It’s like beating a dead ram at this point.

Rest assured, this article is different…

Last week, the NFL finalized the approval of the St. Louis Rams to relocate the franchise back to Los Angeles, capitalizing on a lucrative L.A. market, and stripping St. Louis of its professional football franchise for the financial gains of a small handful of billionaires. Rams’ owner Stan Kroenke led the effort, with help from his rich but lower-relative-net-worth cronies in the NFL league offices, bringing to an end a long, deceptive, and corrupt relocation process. Now we’re dealing with the media aftermath, characterized by a barrage of articles from news outlets across the country, sharing the news, sorting through the emotions, and debating the ethics (or lack thereof) exercised by Kroenke and the NFL.

“Play Gloria!” 10 Life Lessons from the 2019 Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues

Stan Kroenke is a Businessman, but not a Business Leader