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The_Bad_Guy
... was more interested in the Detroit Lions winning football games than the Detroit Lions making him gobs of money. Everyone who worked for the man agreed that was the case. He HAD money.
Just because an owner isn't successful doesn't automatically mean he / she cares more about making money than winning.
Georgia, in my estimation, was an outlier. The Rams won in '99 ... by accident. But, from the moment she took over the team in '79 ... her no. 1 goal was to feather her nest. Which is why John Shaw was her go-to guy throughout her time as owner.
Kroenke is a businessman who cares about his empire. What is important to him is building his brands. He has said this out loud, and he is not a man who says very much out loud.
Kroenke flat out told Arsenal supporters (his premier league soccer club in England) that if they were all about winning championships, they should change allegiance to a different team. Which they won’t. And he knows they won’t. Arsenal’s fan base is one of the most reliably loyal in the league, and that was one of the reasons Kroenke was attracted to it as an investor in the first place. Now, Arsenal is a pretty successful club. Supporters of other teams would rip off their arms to follow a team that has their consistent level of success, but while Arsenal has won a bunch of stuff (English football has a lot of cups and titles – it isn’t like our sports leagues that have a single championship each season), they don’t spend on salaries the way Man U and Chelsea do. And…fwiw…Arsenal has had the same coach for something like 25 years.
Kroenke keeps his overhead down. If you like Steinbrenner, or Cuban, or DeBartolo, Kroenke is not your guy. Go follow another team. Kroenke isn’t a fan; he is a businessman.
BUT... the NFL is a bit different because the salary cap limits the overhead. Winning is not at odds with overhead like it is in baseball and the English Premier League. In fact, winning will improve the Rams brand, it will improve the value of the franchise. Winning will sell more tickets, and drive ticket prices up, and sell more merchandise, and get more people into his hotel/restaurant/retail district around the stadium, and make him more money. Is there any question about that? Does anybody dispute that?
Stan wants to make money, and build his Brand. And in leagues with salary caps, winning enhances earnings (whereas in baseball and soccer, winning will either inflate the payroll, or eat your roster out). So it is safe to say that Stan wants to win. As an alpha dog in an alpha dog world, with a personally financed alpha pleasure palace crown, Stan isn't likely to be satisfied with a cubic zirconia jewel in that crown...ESPECIALLY if Spanos - whom he does not like much - exercises the option to bunk up with him.
Another indication is this: Fisher got a one-year deal with a Team Option for the second year. Kroenke signed Fisher to a one-year deal with an option to drop him after next season because Kroenke takes seriously the possibility that he might want to. That to me is a "Win or Else" contract.
But while fans have decided that Fisher is a loser, and that the Rams need a new coach in order to win, there is no indication that Kroenke has reached the same conclusion. In fact, he just signed Fisher to a new deal.
And my central argument is that Kroenke – being a consistent creature of business – did not commit money to an expense (Fisher’s salary) with an eye to making a decision about whether or not to retain him later. He made his decision to retain him, and then committed the money. That’s the way smart businessmen conduct business. This notion that he could have promised him money and then wanted to see how the Rams would do in a stretch of games in November…makes no sense. Everything we know about Kroenke is inconsistent with that idea.
Now, Kroenke HAS fired coaches, and fired coaches under contract, and even IN SEASON before. But as far as I can tell, it was because the team turned on the coach.
So…imo…unless we start seeing players quit on Fisher, Fisher is here next year. And as far as Harbaugh goes, that is speculation/rumor that is totally made up. Even if Kroenke was thinking about replacing Fisher, there is nobody who would know that, and certainly nobody has contacted Harbaugh, and it is all fantasy nonsense speculation at this point. But no matter what, he certainly isn't going to go throw tons of bank at Harbaugh, or anybody else.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2016 05:43AM by Zooey.
