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St. Louis has had a run of bad luck with the NFL and that is a shock to absolutely no one from the Gateway City. Whether it be the St. Louis Football Cardinals who had left the city in 1987, or the most recent messy breakup with the Rams in 2014, St. Louis has not been able to keep a team around for the main stream league. St. Louis did get its third professional team in 2020 though with the Battlehawks and the XFL, but that has come with its own trials as the league has since rebranded and went through three major sets of owners to where now we have Mike Repole and the UFL. This still leaves a void in the city for the NFL though, as where some cities have both spring and fall football, St. Louis only gets to have fun in the spring scene. This leads to many across the city to default to Kansas City and cheer on the Chiefs and their current dynasty.  

        What if I told you though that you should be cheering for a team that also has a franchise quarterback that is generational in talent, but is six hours away and located in a place known for a very unique take on chili. I am of course referencing the Cincinnati Bengals with Joe Burrow at the helm of the team. There are multiple reasons why St. Louis should swap their fandom to them. One of the most recent reasons being the swirling rumor of their relocation before their lease renewal at Paycor Stadium. When the relocation news was starting to gain traction, one of the top locations that was being suggested was St. Louis as it has an established fan base just eager to get back into NFL football for their own city.

            The main reason for my argument though goes back to 2014, when the Rams were voting to finalize abandoning St. Louis for another go into Los Angeles. While there were owners who were eager to see us out of the market like Mr. Kroenke himself, there were two owners who voted against the move. That’s right, 30 out of 32 teams voted to oust St. Louis from professional football. The two who stuck by the city were the Arizona Cardinals and the Cincinnati Bengals. Now the Cardinals was a bit hypocritical considering that they made the move themselves in the 80’s, but the owner left a powerful message saying that it created bad optics for the league and “Sends a message to our fans that we are all about the Benjamins.” As for Mike Brown, he thought all teams were successful where they were and that the NFL should support the markets they are already in.

            Some people took this as a sign to cheer on the Cardinals, and while that was a sensible option, it still follows the sentiment of being a Rams fan after they moved. Cincinnati was the only team with no real ties to the city but still fought for it to stay within the community of professional football. Now you may ask why not the Chiefs? Sure, they didn’t vote to keep the Rams here but how bad can they be? Well just look at recent events where they are following in the steps of Stan Kroenke and ditching Missouri to follow the money. The Chiefs were in a grueling legal battle for state funds with the state of Missouri for years and ultimately Missouri told them that they would not be able to fund their new renovations with majority funds coming from the state. This would lead to the state of Kansas enticing them and giving them majority funding for a brand-new dome project.

            While the move hasn’t been league approved, the Chiefs want out and they feel like they owe no loyalty to a market that supports them. With that being said, you should root for a team that ultimately argues that the NFL belongs in the Lou and fought for us and not against us. So, join me in screaming “WHO DEY!” and wearing tiger stripes every Sunday until we are back in the NFL proper or the Battlehawks come back into season.