k and Ronny and some depth, its tough." The first quarter

ST. LOUIS - A company tied to St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke has purchased a prime piece of land in the Los Angeles area amid speculation the NFL franchise is considering a return to the city it left for the Midwest nearly two decades ago. Team officials on Friday provided a written statement confirming the recent purchase of a 60-acre site in Inglewood, Calif., adjacent to the shuttered Hollywood Park racetrack. The Los Angeles Times first reported the purchase. "As real estate developers, the Kroenke Organizations are involved in numerous real estate deals across the country and North America," the statement said. "While we can confirm media reports that we recently purchased land in Inglewood, as a private company we dont typically discuss our plans for commercial or residential investments. We have yet to decide what we are going to do with the property but we will look at all options, as we do with all of our properties." The property is three miles east of Los Angeles International Airport runways and sprawls between the newly renovated Forum concert venue, former home of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Hollywood Park, which closed Dec. 22 after 75 years of horse racing. The latter 260-acre site is slated for development of 3,000 housing units, commercial space and parks. The land was previously owned by Wal-Mart, which hoped to build a superstore there but could not win local voter approval for the project. Kroenke is a former Wal-Mart board member who is married to the daughter of company co-founder Bud Walton and continues to build shopping centres for the retailer. Los Angeles has lacked an NFL team since both the Rams and Raiders left in 1994. The Rams can break their 30-year lease in St. Louis after the 2014 season — a decade early — but have said little about their plans. The Rams lease requires the Edward Jones Dome to remain among the top quarter of the 32 NFL stadiums, based on various criteria. The St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission, which manages the dome, last year offered a $124 million improvement plan that included a bigger scoreboard and better club seating, with the Rams paying slightly more half those costs. The team countered with a far more ambitious proposal that called for a new roof with a sliding panel and a bevy of improvements that would keep the city convention centre in the dome closed for three years. City leaders rejected $700 million in publicly funded upgrades sought by the team. Speaking in New York before Sundays Super Bowl, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league was informed of the Kroenke purchase and noted that any stadium development plan would require approval from two-thirds of the NFLs 32 owners. "Were aware of it," Goodell said. "There are no plans, to my knowledge, of a stadium development. Anything that would require a stadium development would require multiple votes of the membership." Goodell cautioned against "overreacting" to the Kroenke land purchase, saying "we should make sure we do whats necessary to continue to support the team locally, which the fans have done in St. Louis. And make sure we can do whatever we can to make sure that team is successful in the St. Louis market." Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he thinks "its unfortunate that a generation of fans have grown up without" a team in Los Angeles. "We definitely want a team in L.A. ... We need to make sure we have the right owner and the right facility, and until at least 24 owners feel that, we wont have it," Kraft said in New York. "Just personally, I would like to see a team in L.A. as soon as possible." Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has taken over negotiations with the Rams and Kroenke after arbitration between the team, the commission and the stadium authority failed. James Shrewsbury, chairman of the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority, which owns the downtown dome, referred questions about the Los Angeles purchase to the governor. "Its hard to comment on it since we dont know what his purpose is," Shrewsbury said, referring to Kroenke, who could not be reached for comment. "He hasnt said what he plans to do with it." The football St. Louis Cardinals moved to Arizona in 1987, and the city went nearly a decade without a franchise until the Los Angeles Rams arrived in 1995. AP Sports Writer Howard Fendrich contributed to this report from New York. Cheap Seattle Seahawks Jerseys Online .2 million in 2012, according to tax returns the league has submitted. Wholesale Seattle Seahawks Jerseys . -- Dane Fox scored his 61st and 62nd goals of the season and Brendan Gaunce had a goal and three assists as the Erie Otters downed the Kitchener Rangers 7-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. http://www.cheapseahawks.com/ . -- The Sacramento Kings and guard Jimmer Fredette have completed a buyout of his contract, clearing the way for the former BYU sensation to become a free agent. Custom Seahawks Jerseys .C. - NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick headlines this years electees into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Seattle Seahawks Jerseys China . The All Blacks played their best rugby of recent years when they beat South Africa 38-27 in Johannesburg two weeks ago, clinching the Rugby Championships in a match which has been hailed as one of the best ever played.MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis Grizzlies jumped out to an early lead and didnt let the Minnesota Timberwolves gain any confidence the rest of the way. Mike Conley had 23 points and six assists, Marc Gasol added 14 points and 12 rebounds and the Grizzlies easily dispatched the short-handed Timberwolves 109-92 on Monday night. "We caught a good team on the second night of a back-to-back," Memphis coach Dave Joerger said. Memphis goal was to take immediate advantage of a Minnesota team coming off a 127-120 loss to Phoenix on Sunday in which the Timberwolves squandered a 22-point lead. Memphis never trailed and held a double-digit lead from the 3:27 mark of the first quarter to the end. "We didnt want to give them too much leeway," Conley said. "Weve been in the same shoes. Youre coming in off a tough game, and you kind of walk through the first part of the game. "We just wanted to jump out there as early as we could, set the tempo and try to get ahead of them." Zach Randolph finished with 17 points for Memphis, while Tayshaun Prince and Ed Davis added 12 points apiece. Mike Miller scored 11 as the Grizzlies won their 10th straight home game. Kevin Love led the Timberwolves with 16 points, but shot 6-of-18 from the field, part of Minnesota shooting 38 per cent for the game. Corey Brewer had 15 points and Kevin Martin finished with 13. Gorgui Dieng, in the starting lineup because of injuries on Minnesotas front line, finished with 11 points and 17 rebounds. The victory left Memphis in the seventh spot in the Western Conference playoff race, a half-game ahead of Dallas and Phoenix. Meanwhile, the consecutive losses to the Grizzlies and Suns pushed the Timberwolves seven games behind Phoenix and the Mavericks. While not mathematically eliminated, the Timberwolves are beginning to understand their situation. "We just have to be competitive. Thats the biggest key right now — get through the end of the season and play each game competitively," forward Chase Budinger said. "Thats how yoou have to look at it.dddddddddddd" The Timberwolves continued to deal with injuries as centres Nikola Pekovic and Ronny Turiaf sat out, along with backup point guard J.J. Barea. With the absences, Memphis dominated the inside and outscored Minnesota in the paint 66-42 and held a 54-42 advantage on the boards. "They played physical," Love said. "When you play a team like that on a back-to-back, especially this late in the season, especially without Pek and Ronny and some depth, its tough." The first quarter was a horrid shooting exhibition. The teams combined to miss the games first nine shots, and Memphis shot only 44.4 per cent in the quarter. Minnesota started 3-of-16 before rallying to 5-of-24 (20.8 per cent for the quarter). "We just got off to such a bad start and missed a ton of shots," Minnesota coach Rick Adelman said. "We allowed them 40 points in the paint in the first half. They controlled the game pretty much the whole game." Memphis pushed the first-half lead to as many as 21 before Minnesota got going midway through the second period. But the Grizzlies held a 57-39 lead at the break. Memphis extended the lead to 24 in the third quarter and appeared to be in control. But Minnesota closed the period on a 15-4 run, including the final nine to cut the advantage to 81-68 entering the fourth. Memphis opened the final period with 12 straight points, including consecutive 3-pointers from Miller and Conley, and Memphis lead was at 93-68. "We had a little miscommunication, relaxed a little bit, and they took advantage," Gasol said. "At the end of the third, we got a little sloppy, but we picked it up again and went up. The reaction is what matters." NOTES: Randolph hit a 3-pointer from the left corner in the third quarter. He was 0-for-16 from outside the arc for the season. ... Memphis has not lost at home since dropping a decision to Dallas on Feb. 5. ... The victory assured Memphis of its fourth straight winning season. ... Memphis G Tony Allen missed the game with a stomach bug. 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