ST. LOUIS — Bob Blitz is still on a high. He uses words like “great,†“spectacular†and “unrivaled†to describe the $790 million settlement he and a team of lawyers landed to end a 4½-year-old lawsuit over the NFL’s Rams exodus to Los Angeles.
Beyond the money, Blitz says, winning the settlement establishes ºüÀêÊÓƵ as a town that took a stand against a behemoth.
“The ºüÀêÊÓƵ region had basically gone into a lull of obscurity,†Blitz said. The settlement, “put us back on the map in an incredibly positive manner. We just slew the dragon.â€
More than seven years ago, Blitz co-chaired the task force that pitched a new riverfront stadium in an effort to keep the team in ºüÀêÊÓƵ. After that plan failed, he became one of the architects of the 2017 lawsuit that alleged the National Football League had broken its own relocation rules in moving the Rams.
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Blitz and co-counsel Jim Bennett recently spoke with the Post-Dispatch, talking for the first time since clinching a deal in November to settle the suit. The lawyers said they wanted to wait until the $790 million wire transfer came through before discussing what they describe as a success story for the region.
The money came through just before Christmas. It’s now in a trust account until ºüÀêÊÓƵ-area leaders decide how to spend it.
Without the settlement, the lawyers would have spent the past week picking a jury and would now be facing a weekslong trial.
The crux of the lawsuit was whether the NFL gave ºüÀêÊÓƵ a fair chance to keep the Rams, and whether the league broke its decades-old relocation guidelines while making public pledges to the contrary.
The lawsuit was an effort to recoup revenue that dried up when professional football left town. The suit said ºüÀêÊÓƵ lost up to $3.5 million a year in amusement and ticket tax revenue, as well as about $7.5 million in property tax and $1.4 million in sales tax, plus millions in earnings taxes. The county claimed it lost hotel tax, property tax and sales tax revenue.
And there was the matter of $18 million spent on the campaign for a new stadium to entice the Rams to stay.
Settling the case instead of pursuing billions in damages at trial, Blitz and Bennett said, avoided the risk of losing, or having a jury award reduced or thrown out later by a higher court.
“Nobody knows what’s going to happen in a jury trial,†Bennett said. “I think the public officials who decided it was a good settlement had the best interests and their duties at heart of making sure that a bird in the hand was better than two in the bush.â€
The lawyers said state law prohibits discussion of their closed-door settlement talks. But they said they believed the evidence was strongly in their favor from the start. That belief was underscored by the fact that the lawyers were working on commission — without a victory, they would not have been paid.
Their gamble paid off, handsomely. The plaintiffs’ team will share $276.5 million.
A ºüÀêÊÓƵ-based lawyer for the NFL declined to be interviewed.
The game plan
The plaintiffs’ strategy included keeping the scope of the lawsuit focused on five key claims: breach of contract, fraud by the league and Rams owner Stan Kroenke, illegal enrichment and business interference causing the loss of millions dumped into the stadium proposal, and unrealized tax revenue.
Bennett said they never had confidence in antitrust claims against the league, noting the recent dismissal of an appeal in the city of Oakland, California’s, antitrust lawsuit over the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas.
“To my knowledge, nothing has had an outcome like the ºüÀêÊÓƵ case, even close,†Bennett said. “And those other cases are cautionary tales about what can happen.â€
Blitz said his biggest fear was taking the case to trial, winning and then having to fight potential appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, alleging that the case should have been settled in arbitration rather than in state court. In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Kroenke’s petition to settle the lawsuit in arbitration.
Last fall, pressure to settle the case appeared to grow after Circuit Judge Christopher McGraugh allowed ºüÀêÊÓƵ to pursue punitive damages against owners who served on the league’s committee on Los Angeles expansion. That raised tension within the league about what financial documents those owners would be required to hand over.
The man who oversaw the settlement talks, former ºüÀêÊÓƵ Circuit Judge Jack Garvey, said he met with the parties several times “to get their take on the case†before presiding over a 15-hour mediation session Nov. 23 at a law firm office in Clayton. He wouldn’t divulge details of negotiations but described them as “intense.†He praised the lawyers on both sides for their skill, preparation and confidence toward mediation and trial.
“Everyone’s trying to work a mediator like they’re trying to work a referee,†he said. “Everybody knew where they stood.â€
Patrick Rishe, director of Washington University’s sports business program, said reaching the “unprecedented settlement†in the relocation lawsuit was clearly the right move for ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
“This truly is historic,†he said of the settlement amount. “Chances are, given the NFL’s resources, that (appeals) process could have lasted five years, 10 years maybe? If the settlement hadn’t been made, there’s no guarantee that we would see that money any time soon.â€
The biggest question now, he said, is how city and county leaders will spend it.
“I don’t think our city and county leaders have shown a lot of acumen as it relates to how to utilize resources,†he said. “Now, like a kid in a candy store, you’ve got this unexpected wad of cash in your pocket and you might get a little overzealous. This is the kind of money that if you invest it wisely, it should last a really long time. And I worry, especially in the city, that myopia may trump pragmatism.â€
The spoils
Thus far, city and county leaders are tight-lipped about plans to divide the more than $500 million, after attorney fees, to be shared by the city, county and Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority. They have not offered a timeline for developing a spending plan.
Nick Dunne, a spokesman for ºüÀêÊÓƵ Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, said discussions among leaders have begun but there’s “nothing to report†yet.
“Once we are able to talk about something, we’ll try to roll it out,†Dunne said.
In November, Jones said she was confident the parties would be able to work together in dividing the money fairly.
Doug Moore, a spokesman for County Executive Sam Page, said Page and Jones had not talked “in detail†and have no deadline. He said the lawyers still were discussing the allocation of the settlement and that proposals have not been presented.
How the money gets divvied up could depend in part on how Gov. Mike Parson fills five of 11 seats on the dome authority’s board. The governor has said he wants a say in how the settlement money is spent. A spokeswoman for Parson said Tuesday that he is “in the process†of appointing new board members. She gave no timeline for announcing his picks, which require confirmation by the Missouri Senate.
It would appear that the board has begun talks about the settlement, though Chairman Jim Shrewsbury would only say, “We cannot talk about this matter during the negotiations.â€
David Peacock, who co-chaired the riverfront stadium task force with Blitz, said that while he had no involvement in negotiations during the lawsuit, he suspects a growing rift among NFL owners over liability, Kroenke’s reported interest in settling the case separately and getting out of an indemnification agreement with the league, had accelerated settlement talks. He called the settlement “precedential†not only because of its size but also in the message it sends to other NFL teams wanting to change cities.
“Anytime a team now moves, ºüÀêÊÓƵ and this case will be talked about,†he said.
He agrees with Blitz and Bennett that the settlement wouldn’t have been possible without ºüÀêÊÓƵ’ work to present a viable stadium proposal years ago. The settlement didn’t bring an expansion team to ºüÀêÊÓƵ as some had hoped, but Peacock says the “enormous†windfall is a victory for a region he believes is experiencing a shift in momentum in economic development. He pointed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s new campus under construction, the city’s new Major League Soccer team and Bunge North America’s 2019 relocation here from New York.
Though the region shelled out $18 million on a proposal to build a $1.1 billion riverfront stadium, Peacock said, the economic impact of the Rams’ two decades in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, coupled with the “enormous†legal settlement is ultimately a win for the region.
“I think the economics and the financials would say it was a good return,†he said. “It was a bumpy ride, but it was a good return.â€