Wow, what an exciting few weeks it has been! As I said at the press conference on Tuesday, we felt that the time for bold action for this organization was now, and we hope you are as thrilled as we are about the hiring of Jeff Fisher as head coach of the St. Louis Rams.
I want to thank you for your patience as we went through the search process to find the next head coach who will return winning football to St. Louis. We were fortunate to meet several great candidates with bright futures ahead of them. However, when we had a chance to hire a proven winner, we knew we wanted Coach Fisher to lead our football team. I can’t tell you how excited we were when Mr. Kroenke received the phone call from Coach Fisher informing us that he wanted to be the next head coach of the St. Louis Rams. With Coach Fisher, we hired the third-winningest active coach in the NFL, a coach who has been to the Super Bowl (and thankfully lost), a coach who is chair of the prestigious NFL Competition Committee, and a coach who will bring a confidence and swagger to the St. Louis Rams.
One thing that should be noted – we have all of you to thank for helping us land Coach Fisher. Throughout the process, he spoke of St. Louis’ reputation as a great sports city, the passion of our fan base and the excitement surrounding our Club as reasons for wanting to be a St. Louis Ram. Together, we share a vision of rewarding this community by building a model franchise both on and off the field that will make St. Louis proud. When Coach Fisher walked into his office for the first time on Tuesday, he looked out the window towards the practice field and smiled, knowing that this is the beginning of many great things to come.
As we enter the weekend, Coach Fisher is hard at work building a top-notch coaching staff that will put us in position to compete for the division titles our fans deserve. We are hopeful to have both coordinators hired by the end of the weekend and the rest of the staff in place within the next week or so. As for the General Manager search, we will conduct interviews late next week in St. Louis with many of the league’s rising personnel stars. We have identified roughly a half dozen candidates to meet with and our goal is to find a bright mind that will bring the same passion, energy and skill to our personnel department that Coach Fisher brings to our coaching staff.
Lastly, in a week full of news, we wanted you to be the first to hear that the NFL will be making an exciting announcement later this morning that the St. Louis Rams have been selected to play a home game in London for each of the next three seasons. The International Series kicks off this fall on October 28 when we play the New England Patriots at Wembley Stadium. It is a tremendous honor to be selected by the NFL to represent our community and country in such an important league initiative as we look to grow our game internationally. We believe our selection by the league speaks to the promise and direction of the St. Louis Rams and we look forward to helping shine the international spotlight on our region as few games deliver this degree of publicity and exposure.
As we learn more about the London opportunity from the NFL in the coming weeks and months, we will share information about how you can travel to the United Kingdom to be part of the festivities. All season ticket holders will have a chance to purchase tickets to the game at Wembley Stadium, and we are making plans to reward lucky season ticket holders with free trips to the game and opportunities to fly with the team as part of a lottery system. More details are forthcoming as plans are finalized.
In closing, the hiring of Coach Fisher has brought an energy and buzz to our fan base that we have not seen since the Greatest Show on Turf, and we are eager to finish the search process for a General Manager so that we can get started on rebuilding the St. Louis Rams for the 2012 season and beyond. From the hiring of Coach Fisher to the International Series selection, the St. Louis Rams are proving to the rest of the NFL that we are serious about establishing ourselves as an elite franchise. We hope that we are most importantly proving to you that we are committed to turning the St. Louis Rams around and rewarding your loyalty with winning football!
Sincerely,
Kevin
My Letter back to Kevin Demoff
Mr. Demoff
Thank you very much for the personal touch of an email to each fan that does not go unnoticed. Also thank you for going on local radio shows today to explain more of the information on changes going on. As a season ticket holder I was not going to renew if Steve Spagnuolo was brought back, the move to Fisher shows a big investment in the team and towards winning. While I appreciate all of those facts the bottom line is the team is 15-65 over the last 5 years yet I go week in and week out and tailgate with the likes of Ram Man, King Ram, support the Rolland Williams show etc. and still a cloud hangs over the team. I do not understand your stance on the games in London but understand why you may believe it or have to keep it in possitive light. I do not believe any fans will look at this as positive and perhaps we are all wrong and I hope we are. I do find it odd that there is nothing in the release about a reduction in season ticket prices based on the fact there will only be 9 games. Will we still be charged for 10? I believe everything from start to finish is leverage for a new stadium either in Missouri or LA so I do understand but for the faithful it is unfortunate to continually live in fear that your product will leave town. The fans are not at fault for that stadium. The fans purchased PSLs to have it built. The fans did not say to connect it to a convention center. The fans did not sell the land and prime parking spots that the casino now sits on. The fans are not the reason the city does not have pride to knock down and beutify the downtown area. The fans do not want to be held hostage again we just want to follow a football team that gives their all to win year in and year out. While we would love for you to stay it will not be up to the fans it will be up to you.
I would like to thank Mr. Demoff for his replay below:
Vinnie,
Thank you for the impassioned email and your longtime loyalty to the Rams. You will be paying for one less game in your season ticket package and we are going to hold tickets flat or slightly down in terms of pricing. We would not increase prices after such a tough year.
Please know the goal of playing in London was to make it easier for us to stay in St. Louis for the long-term. We are committed to building a great franchise in St. Louis and delivering the on-field results our fans deserve. The hiring of Jeff Fisher and signing a great coaching staff are the first steps in the right direction. All I can ask is that you judge us over the next few months about how serious we are about winning in St. Louis and building a great franchise and not just based on one announcement. I know nobody may believe us when we say we are as committed today as we were earlier this week, but it is the truth. We have no intention of moving, just to get it right in St. Louis.
Feel free to follow up with any questions, and I’m providing a copy of Friday’s chat which has answers to many questions you may have. I hope to hear from you again soon.
http://chat.nfl.com/front/index/1656?a_id=2
Kevin
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