Every NFL team owner save one voted Monday to relocate the Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas.
The dissenter, Stephen Ross of the Miami Dolphins, holds the outrageous belief that if a $14 billion industry wants football palaces in all of its markets, owners of said football teams should pull out the stops to stay in their cities, even it means -- gasp! -- footing the bill themselves.
"My position today," Ross said in a statement, "was that we as owners and as a League owe it to the fans to do everything we can to stay in the communities that have supported us until all options have been exhausted. I want to wish Mark Davis and the Raiders organization the best in Las Vegas."
Stephen Ross. NFL Mensch of the Year.
Actually, the statement Ross issued Monday adhered to NFL doctrine, although it took chops to cast the lone dissenting vote when Nevada was dangling $750 million in stadium money.
NFL bylaws in fact mandate that a team can relocate only after it exhausts all reasonable avenues to create a venue in the home market that meets NFL standards.
The difference with Ross is that he, by the cartel's norms, has a different idea about what going the extra yard means.
When Florida politicians and voters denied him at the subsidy trough, he renovated the Dolphins stadium on his own dime, paying $500 million, rather than try to move the team.
"Los Angeles was open. I wasn't getting what I wanted," Ross said Monday, per the Miami Herald, minutes after he was the lone dissenting vote. "But I reflected and said, 'What is my position? And what's important to the city?' I believe in cities and I believe the Dolphins are an important, integral part of the city. It's not a selfish issue. I didn't get the money, so I said, 'Hey, how do I make it better?' I feel very strongly about that."
Per Ross, when Florida politicians failed to make good on a promise they gave him, he went high.
"You do what you know is right," Ross said. "When you accept certain positions you have to take certain responsibilities. You have to understand what you're doing. And you know what your responsibility is. And life's not all about money."
Money, as Jimmy Stewart's character said when talking to the angel in It's a Wonderful Life, comes in pretty handy down here, bud.
Wedded to Ross' intent was financial wherewithal. His net worth of about $12 billion means Ross is far wealthier than Chargers owner Dean Spanos, making it far easier for him to get half a billion in financing at a tiny interest rate.
Like Dean's dad, Alex, he made his fortune as a real-estate developer.
The investment is paying off for Ross. Ticket sales and sponsorships picked up. The renovated, more intimate venue has fostered a louder environment.
Best of all, said Ross, the Dolphins stayed in South Florida, their home since 1966 (five years after the Chargers arrived in San Diego) and also where he spent most of his childhood.
"If you own a team," he said, "you're a steward of that team and have obligations to the community. I think you don't move a team if you really haven't exhausted all the possibilities and I don't believe [the Raiders] did."
The dissenting vote from Ross on Monday was not part of a personal pattern. In a vote on relocation in January 2016, he and 29 other owners approved the Rams' move to Inglewood and also gave the Chargers the first option to join the Rams in a privately funded stadium.
Back then, the dissenters were the Raiders' Davis and, per Peter King of MMQB.com, Mike Brown of the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Dolphins and Chargers will meet this season at the Carson soccer stadium where the Chargers will play until they join the Rams in Inglewood.
Come that day, it would be of no surprise if many interested San Diegans take to heart these words: Go Fish.
Sports on 03/31/2017