When Rams owner Georgia Frontiere died in January, speculation immediate arose as to the future of the franchise.  Initial reports indicated that Dale “Chip” Rosenbloom was expected to take control of the team. 

We thereafter heard rumblings that minority owner Stan Kroenke had purchased a potential path to majority ownership.  Kroenke’s ownership of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche could be a problem, however, unless Kroenke buys the Rams and swaps them for the Broncos.  (NFL rules permit owners to also own teams that play in other pro sports leagues, as long as none of the other teams are in another team’s market.)

Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Rams are now for sale.  And that former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo is interested in buying them.  Slightly.

“[I]t wouldn’t be my first choice of a franchise if I chose to get back in,” DeBartolo told Silver.  (Eddie would prefer instead to buy the Buccaneers.)

The asking price reportedly is in the range of $850 to $900 million, and the thinking is that the Rams would possibly move to Los Angeles after their lease at the Edward Jones Dome, which runs through the 2012 season, expires. 

But DeBartolo isn’t convinced that a return to L.A. will work for any team.  “First of all, who’s proven in L.A. that a damn team even works?” DeBartolo said.  “It didn’t work for [Raiders owner] Al Davis, and he won a Super Bowl there.  I think L.A. has yet to prove it wants to support a pro football team.  And unless somebody does an awfully damn good survey and market-research study indicating otherwise, I’ll be skeptical.”

Last month, Edward Roski proposed a new stadium for the Los Angeles area.  All Roski would need is someone who’d be willing to move their team there.

The Rams played in L.A. from 1946 through 1994.