St. Louis Sues Entire NFL, Kroenke Over Rams Relocation

ST. LOUIS, MO — The Rams football franchise is being sued by the city it called home for more than two decades. The City of St. Louis and County of St. Louis filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming the team failed to follow league protocol before relocating to Los Angeles, and accusing owner Stan Kroenke of lying about his intentions to stay in the city. The suit alleges that the Rams' return to Los Angeles cost St. Louis $1.85 million to $3.5 million per year in tax revenue from ticket sales, plus $7.5 million in property tax and $1.4 million in sales tax revenue.

The suit, which seeks damages and profits lost over the last 15 months, names all 32 NFL teams and their owners and alleges that the Rams violated NFL bylaws requiring the team to work in good faith to keep teams in their current city. The suit claims the other NFL teams "intentionally interfered" with the Rams' relationship with St. Louis by approving the relocation in January 2016.

The 52-page complaint alleges breach of contract and accuses Kroenke of making "false statements regarding the team’s intent to engage in good faith negotiations." The suit includes part of a 2010 interview Kroenke gave to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch saying,"I’m going to attempt to do everything that I can to keep the Rams in St. Louis. I’ve always stepped up for pro football in St. Louis. ... People in our state know me. People know I can be trusted.”

In 2014, Rams executive Kevin Demoff commented on Kroenke's purchase of land in Inglewood, Calif. — now part of the LA Rams stadium — saying, "I promise you, Stan is looking at lots of pieces of land around the world right now and none of them are for football stadiums."

The complaint alleges that the Rams and the NFL misled the city about plans to relocate while the city was preparing to build a new stadium that would cost more than $1 billion and bring thousands of jobs to St. Louis, CNN Money reported.

Outgoing Mayor Francis Slay told the Post-Dispatch "The NFL needs to pay for its conduct," claiming the city spent $16 million on the stadium project in a bid to keep the team in St. Louis, including purchasing land for a new stadium and hiring architects, lawyers and consultants.

The Rams aren't the only NFL team to leave St. Louis in the last few decades. In 1987, after nearly 30 years in the city, the St. Louis Cardinals moved to Arizona. For the Rams, the relocation was a homecoming: the team previously played in Los Angeles from 1946 to 1994.

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Photo: Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke stands near the field prior to a preseason NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Kang)