Kroenke and the NFL settle with St. Louis for $790m but it’s unclear how much Kroenke will have to pay

The city and county of St. Louis announced that they had reached a settlement with the Rams and the NFL for $790m. The settlement ends a four year long lawsuit which had threatened to begin in January and would have put some of the wealthiest owners in the NFL on the witness stand.

St. Louis sued the NFL for damages arising from the loss of the Rams franchise when Kroenke moved the Rams to Los Angeles in 2016. Originally asking for more than $1bn in damages the $790m settlement is still a massive amount of money which the city and county have said that they will use for civic improvements.

Kroenke angered almost all fans in St. Louis after he took over the Rams and immediately began telling city officials that they needed to upgrade their stadium. The city put together a $1bn package to help appease Kroenke but it didn’t work. The lawsuit alleged that Kroenke knew as early as 2013 that he wanted to relocate the Rams and that he committed fraud and lied in denying that they wanted to move.

In order to secure the move to LA, Kroenke and the Chargers and Raiders all signed an indemnity agreement which supposedly held them responsible for any damages which might arise from the move.

However, last month, Stan Kroenke shocked his fellow NFL owners when his lawyers said that they are challenging the indemnity.

It can be a bit difficult to unpack but in essence there were two proposals to move the NFL back to LA. The Kroenke proposal, which was eventually chosen, and another proposal to move the Chargers and Raiders to a location in Carson, CA.

During discovery for the lawsuit it was revealed that an email had been sent by an official affiliated with the competing Carson project which outlined all of the ways that the Rams proposal had violated the NFL’s relocation guidelines. That email seems to have been a blueprint for the St. Louis lawsuit and it is suggested in the ESPN report that may be the basis for Kroenke thinking he can get out of the indemnity clause.

If you enjoy King’s Court style dramas I highly recommend reading that ESPN report linked above. It’s an insider’s view to discussions that were held among league owners and their officials.

As of right now, no one knows how much (if any) of the settlement that Stan Kroenke will be personally liable for.

Qq

Sources:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32706415/source-nfl-settles-st-louis-lawsuit-rams-relocation-los-angeles-790m

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32486646/los-angeles-rams-owner-stan-kroenke-angers-nfl-owners-financial-pivot-related-lawsuit-st-louis-move-sources-say

4 comments

  1. So, reading that ESPN article, it seems like Kroenke’s argument is; because of the leak of confidential info/emails, the indemnity should now no longer apply?

    I’m no Kroenke fan by any stretch of the imagination but I can see the reasoning in his argument. The league is complicit in the move to LA, he’s the fall guy.

    The question is what does this mean for Arsenal?

  2. Thanks for the post Tim. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

    Claude from yesterdays comment section

    According to who scored, so far this season Pepe has played 482 minutes in our league games and Laca has played 334 total minutes. Between the 2 of them they have played a total of 816 minutes and scored just 1 goal. The reason Pepe is not playing is because he is not producing. Laca will also lose his spot unless he starts to produce. Last season Pepe and Laca scored 23 goals and I don’t think the quality of our football or our chance creation was better last season so we can’t blame managerial tactics or a lack of creativity for their drop off. I think its also clear that at this stage of his career Auba is no longer going to be able to compensate. Someone has to to score and there is not a whole lot that Arteta can do when the players he needs are either on the downside of their career arc or just going AWOL.

  3. Tim

    I am not suggesting that chance creation or passing skill or any of the other things we talk about are not important with regards to how many goals your team scores. All factories are interconnected and the ideal situation is having both great creativity and great goal scorers. However, its just my opinion from watching the last 20+ years of PL and especially Arsenal football, if there one factor which is the most important its having a critical mass of players who are good at scoring.

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