The Los Angeles Rams have reached a settlement with St. Louis over their relocation, and it will cost owner Stan Kroenke upwards of $820 million. $790 million of the total will go to St. Louis, and the other $30 million is to cover legal fees, and the sum could have been even higher.
The NFL has already footed a bill that amounts to around $7 million per team, and now Kroenke must stump up an initial $320 million by next March and another $283 million over the period of the next five years.
Life Since the Move
The Rams won their second-ever Super Bowl last year, and if you want to back Sean McVay’s side to repeat the feat, you can do so at this website, though lightning doesn’t always strike twice, and their current 3-6 record could certainly prove a mighty obstacle to overcome in 2022.
The SoFi Stadium franchise started as a team based out of Cleveland before moving to Los Angeles in 1946, but they moved to St. Louis in 1995 before returning to California in 2016 under the guidance of owner Kroenke.
Apparently, Kroenke will be aided in his pursuit of the cash to cover the settlement by leveraging the SoFi Stadium, which plays host to both the Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers.
Kroenke and the Rams had hoped to avoid the penalty for moving the franchise and, of course, the financial costs of doing so, but their efforts to have the lawsuit thrown out of court proved unsuccessful.
Global Impact
The Rams owner also owns the English Premier League soccer team Arsenal, and his efforts to attempt to push the North London team into the now failed European Super League venture angered many in the UK.
Similarities in the way he runs his many sports teams, including the NBA team Denver Nuggets, were picked up on by an Arsenal supporter;
“In 2015 Kroenke moved the St. Louis Rams away from there (sic) passionate fan base in St. Louis to LA, which is 1,826 miles away, all because the team would get more revenue in LA,”
“This is the type of people who would run the European Super League who care about the money, not the fans.”
McVay would have hoped to see his side replicate the fine form that saw the Rams win the Super Bowl last year, but it hasn’t proven the case. They picked up two wins in their first three games, against the Atlanta Falcons and the Arizona Cardinals, but a run of five defeats in six has left them floundering ahead of a must-win clash with similarly out-of-form New Orleans Saints before they then take on the might of the Kansas City Chiefs.
They sit bottom of the NFC West, with the Seahawks top with a 6-4 record, one game ahead of the San Francisco 49ers and two clear of the Cardinals. Time is running out for the Rams, and it would take a Herculean effort to make the play-off picture now.
