ST. Chuck Bednarik Youth Jersey . LOUIS - A company tied to St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke has purchased a prime piece of land in the Los Angeles area amid speculation the NFL franchise is considering a return to the city it left for the Midwest nearly two decades ago. Team officials on Friday provided a written statement confirming the recent purchase of a 60-acre site in Inglewood, Calif., adjacent to the shuttered Hollywood Park racetrack. The Los Angeles Times first reported the purchase. "As real estate developers, the Kroenke Organizations are involved in numerous real estate deals across the country and North America," the statement said. "While we can confirm media reports that we recently purchased land in Inglewood, as a private company we dont typically discuss our plans for commercial or residential investments. We have yet to decide what we are going to do with the property but we will look at all options, as we do with all of our properties." The property is three miles east of Los Angeles International Airport runways and sprawls between the newly renovated Forum concert venue, former home of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Hollywood Park, which closed Dec. 22 after 75 years of horse racing. The latter 260-acre site is slated for development of 3,000 housing units, commercial space and parks. The land was previously owned by Wal-Mart, which hoped to build a superstore there but could not win local voter approval for the project. Kroenke is a former Wal-Mart board member who is married to the daughter of company co-founder Bud Walton and continues to build shopping centres for the retailer. Los Angeles has lacked an NFL team since both the Rams and Raiders left in 1994. The Rams can break their 30-year lease in St. Louis after the 2014 season — a decade early — but have said little about their plans. The Rams lease requires the Edward Jones Dome to remain among the top quarter of the 32 NFL stadiums, based on various criteria. The St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission, which manages the dome, last year offered a $124 million improvement plan that included a bigger scoreboard and better club seating, with the Rams paying slightly more half those costs. The team countered with a far more ambitious proposal that called for a new roof with a sliding panel and a bevy of improvements that would keep the city convention centre in the dome closed for three years. City leaders rejected $700 million in publicly funded upgrades sought by the team. Speaking in New York before Sundays Super Bowl, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league was informed of the Kroenke purchase and noted that any stadium development plan would require approval from two-thirds of the NFLs 32 owners. "Were aware of it," Goodell said. "There are no plans, to my knowledge, of a stadium development. Anything that would require a stadium development would require multiple votes of the membership." Goodell cautioned against "overreacting" to the Kroenke land purchase, saying "we should make sure we do whats necessary to continue to support the team locally, which the fans have done in St. Louis. And make sure we can do whatever we can to make sure that team is successful in the St. Louis market." Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he thinks "its unfortunate that a generation of fans have grown up without" a team in Los Angeles. "We definitely want a team in L.A. ... We need to make sure we have the right owner and the right facility, and until at least 24 owners feel that, we wont have it," Kraft said in New York. "Just personally, I would like to see a team in L.A. as soon as possible." Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has taken over negotiations with the Rams and Kroenke after arbitration between the team, the commission and the stadium authority failed. James Shrewsbury, chairman of the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority, which owns the downtown dome, referred questions about the Los Angeles purchase to the governor. "Its hard to comment on it since we dont know what his purpose is," Shrewsbury said, referring to Kroenke, who could not be reached for comment. "He hasnt said what he plans to do with it." The football St. Louis Cardinals moved to Arizona in 1987, and the city went nearly a decade without a franchise until the Los Angeles Rams arrived in 1995. AP Sports Writer Howard Fendrich contributed to this report from New York. Brian Westbrook Eagles Jersey . Make the extra pass, take care of the ball, play defence and get more out of his bench. Herman Edwards Eagles Jersey . Tony Parker had 33 points and nine assists and San Antonio never trailed in a resounding 116-92 victory over Portland, bullying the younger Trail Blazers in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.ROME - Sassuolo came back from a goal down to beat Empoli 3-1 at home in Serie A on Tuesday, its second consecutive win after failing to record a victory in its opening seven matches.Daniele Croce put Empoli ahead in the 18th minute and Sassuolo struck back with second-half goals from Simone Missiroli, Sergio Floccari and Domenico Berardi.Berardi also missed a penalty in the second half when he hit the crossbar. Josh Sweat Jersey. Located near Modena, Sassuolo made its Serie A debut last season and is now near the middle of the table in 12th place, level on points with Fiorentina. Empoli remained one point above the drop zone.On Wednesday, Serie A leader Juventus visits Genoa, second-place Roma hosts Cesena, AC Milan plays Cagliari and struggling Inter Milan meets Sampdoria. ' ' '
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