Stan Kroenke owes St. Louis $571 million. This
is because St. Louis sued the NFL and Rams owner
Kroenke after they exploited the city in order to move
the Rams to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, St. Louis
will probably never get an NFL team again. St. Louis
– meaning a combination of St. Louis city, St. Louis
County, and the St. Louis Sports Commission – sued
the NFL for $790 million, part of which has been paid
by other NFL team owners and the
league itself. This all happened
because Stan Kroenke bought
a majority stake in the Rams in
2010 and, six years later, made an
announcement that he planned
to relocate the team to LA, even
though St. Louis had spent millions
developing plans to build the Rams
a new riverside stadium.
When the St. Louis region
sued Kroenke and the NFL, it argued
that they “knowingly misled the
city into believing that he would
keep the Rams there.” The lawsuit
was also based on the fact that
“the NFL violated its own relocation
guidelines in allowing the move.” It
sought over $1 billion in damages
but eventually settled on the
previously mentioned $790 million.
The NFL owners passed a measure in
2022 forcing Stan Kroenke to pay $571
million, with the NFL forcing every other
team to pay about $7 million each to cover their part
of the payment. Kroenke had previously agreed to pay
all legal fees with the move, but he managed to force
the other teams to collectively pay $219 million.
In November 2022, when the lawsuit was
decided, the settlement was divided up three ways:
– $280 million to the city of St. Louis, which includes
$30 million to expand the Dome at America’s Center.
– $169 million to St. Louis County
– $70 million to St. Louis Regional Convention and
Sports Authority.
The money used to expand the Dome is on
clear display and it makes the Battlehawks games very
enjoyable. The Battlehawks recently were merged into
the UFL after being very successful last season. Their
first home game kicks off on April 6 at 7 p.m.
But the question remains what should STL do
with the rest of this money? In my personal opinion, I
would love an NBA team so I think we
should invest into building a basketball
arena. Currently, the largest basketball
court in the St. Louis area is the Chaifetz
Arena. While watching SLU play is fun,
watching stars like LeBron James, the
greatest basketball player of all time, or
Shai or Luka would be another level.
The $280 million given to the
city of St. Louis should be more than
enough to create an NBA arena. The
Phoenix Suns’ Arena, the Footprint
Center, cost $89 million to build,
converting that into 2021 dollars would
cost $172 million. Given the fact that
there has been a lot of inflation since
then, the cost would probably be a
little higher in 2024 dollars but not
that much. So given the fact that the
city of St. Louis city has $280 million, it
would be more than enough. St. Louis
welcomed St. Louis City SC recently with open
arms so think about what they would do to
a basketball team. That atmosphere would
be completely unmatched. The NBA is also looking
to expand given the fact it only has 30 teams. I know
many basketball fans in STL who would not only
welcome the team with open arms but also be diehard
supporters of them.
I personally hate traveling so far to watch an
NBA game and I know many of my friends do as well.
It would not only be profitable for the city of St. Louis
but we also have funds readily available for building
the stadium.
