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JONES SAYS RAMS CAN MOVE

JONES SAYS RAMS CAN MOVE When the St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke announced plans last week to build an 80,000-seat football stadium near downtown Los Angeles, it raised the specter that he might unilaterally move his team to Southern California.

After his announcement, the N.F.L. reiterated that any team relocation must be approved by at least 24 out of the league’s 32 owners. The N.F.L. controls the Los Angeles market, and Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that any move there must be done in an orderly way.

But in an interview last week, the Dallas Cowboys’ owner, Jerry Jones, said that while he prefers that the owners approve any team moving to Los Angeles, a team could possibly move there without league approval.

“As it would turn out now, apart from the league saying no, you can move there,” he said. “Keep in mind that teams have moved without the permission of the league. They just have.”

Asked if Kroenke could move on his own, Jones said: “He can if the league says he can’t.”

Asked if the N.F.L. preferred to coordinate any relocation, Jones said: “Again, there are just certain things that clubs can do.”

Jones’s comments are bound to stir interest in a murky and emotional process because he is one of the N.F.L.’s most powerful and unconventional owners.

The league said last month that the Rams, the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders would not move to Los Angeles in 2015. But Kroenke has the ability to shift to a year-to-year lease at the Edward Jones Dome, where the Rams play.

That would give him the flexibility to leave St. Louis in the coming years.

“The idea of Stan going ahead and making his announcement was driven by all of the right things,” said Jones, who cited Kroenke’s having a deal for a location and his owning a team with “a great legacy.”

Jones added, “All of that is to me a very positive thing for Los Angeles and for the N.F.L.”

Last week, civic leaders in Missouri unveiled plans to build a new 64,000-seat outdoor stadium in downtown St. Louis to persuade Kroenke to stay. KEN BELSON