This is an open letter to the NFL, Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the NFL, the Arizona Cardinals organization, William Bidwill, Michael Bidwill, city of St. Louis, St. Louis County, and the State of Missouri.

From 1960 to 1988 for 28 years the home of the now Arizona Cardinals was St. Louis, but you can go back even further than that when they were the Chicago Cardinals which by default became an adopted team for the city of St. Louis. 

In 1960 they moved the team to St. Louis where they had already played some games prior to relocating the team. STL accepted the team with open arms and went on a journey, good, bad, or just plain awful, we stuck with our team through the thick and thin of many years of losing football spattered with little success, but we still loved our team more than anything. 

Prior to 1988 William Bidwill was trying to get a new stadium built in or outside the city to house his team, the city balked and county executive Gene McNary took the lead in planning a sprawling complex outside the city by 64/40 near Maryland Heights not far from where the Hollywood Amphitheater sits today.

Due to political infighting which seems to be the norm around STL the deal never came to fruition due to fracturing party politics as usual. We lost our team due to the same old political games that are continued to be played within the city and county of St. Louis.

We landed the Rams in 1995 because the NFL couldn't figure out the LA conundrum. We were desperate for NFL football because the NFL had given the 2 expansion teams to Jacksonville and Carolina as where we were already a majority of the way through building a 100% tax payer funded stadium in downtown called the TWA Dome. 

The Rams made out like gangbusters with a free stadium, tax relief from the city and state, PSL funds, and numerous other capital gains. In other words, they cleaned us out and when the time was right for the picking, the NFL along with Stan Kroenke moved the Rams to greener pastures in LA. 

To be honest, I don't even care anymore, they belong in LA they should have never been allowed to move in the first place in 1995. St. Louis should have never lost the Cardinals who were allowed to leave to Arizona where as Arizona should have gotten their own expansion franchise.

I cannot tell you how many people I talk to that tell me how they wish the Cardinals were still in St. Louis. it's an open wound that still there, fresh, never healed.

What I am proposing to the NFL, Cardinals organization the other 31 owners is this, lets make this right, lets bring the Big Red home where they truly belong under the Arch in the Gateway to the West. We have a rich history of football in STL and other I know many would agree. We already have a stadium in the Dome at America's Center available for use while we can build a new stadium on the riverfront.   

I am also proposing that Arizona be given an expansion franchise of their own to fill the void of the Cardinals coming home. I have lost 2 football teams in St. Louis in '88 & '16 I wouldn't wish that on anyone, but my allegiance is to St. Louis, my hometown, where I grew up, where I spent my time as a child watching Big Red NFL football with my father, and how I would like to do the same with my children. It's time to make this right.

Long Live the St. Louis Cardinals

Thank you for your time