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National Football League owners reportedly received an email this week from Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s representatives threatening to settle the relocation case with St. Louis separately — leaving the rest of the 31 owners to go on trial Jan. 10.
All 32 teams and their owners at the time the lawsuit was filed are defendants in the case.
Kroenke’s representatives believe they would be able to settle the lawsuit brought by St. Louis, St. Louis County, and the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority in 2017 for around $500 million to $750 million.
The suit argues that the NFL and team broke relocation guidelines. The mediation date is slated for Nov. 23.
- Sports attorney Daniel Wallach told Front Office Sports in September that a $1 billion figure could be a “starting point” for a settlement.
- Kroenke previously offered just $100 million to settle.
If Kroenke were to step out on his own, it would leave the other owners with the legal expenses. Kroenke previously attempted to withhold his reported promise to pay the tens of millions of dollars in expenses if a lawsuit arose from the team’s relocation, causing earlier conflict in the league.
“If we continue to not get any assurances from the league regarding allocation [of damages], we will have no choice but to resolve the case on behalf of only the Rams and Mr. Kroenke,” according to the email obtained by Sports Business Journal. It continued, “we do not want to do that.”
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