XPost: alt.sports.football.pro.phila-eagles, stl.general, alt.sports.football.pro.la-rams
XPost: alt.sports.football.pro.stl-rams
NEW YORK -- Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke might be trying
to back away from his promise to cover tens of millions of
dollars in legal expenses related to his team's 2016 departure
from St. Louis, a revelation that angered many NFL owners when
they learned of it Tuesday, sources told ESPN.
The legal update from NFL general counsel Jeff Pash, during the
owners' first in-person meeting since December 2019, stunned
many in the room, according to accounts from people who were
there and others briefed on the proceedings.
The league, through a spokesperson, declined comment Wednesday.
A Rams spokesperson also declined to comment.
The Rams and other owners are embroiled in a fierce, four-year
lawsuit from the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports
Complex Authority, which argues that the league broke its own
relocation guidelines, misled the public on its plans to leave
the city and cost the city millions in revenue. The league has
lost many of its motions and was denied a hearing in the U.S.
Supreme Court.
The case has entangled all 32 teams and cost millions in legal
fees, which to this point have been mostly covered by Kroenke
under an indemnification agreement he signed as part of the
relocation. For some teams, the bills have run to eight figures.
Although Kroenke has been in discussions with the league for
some time over the scope of the indemnification agreement,
owners first learned of a shift in his position several hours
into Tuesday's meeting at the InterContinental New York Barclay
hotel. Sources told ESPN that executives for each team were
asked to leave the room; only owners, representatives for teams
that didn't send owners and senior league executives remained.
Pash delivered a lengthy update on the lawsuit, including the
league's latest argument that the trial set for January should
be moved out of St. Louis in order to get an impartial jury.
Sources told ESPN that Kroenke then stood and told the room that
he has invested in the league and done everything that the
league has asked him to do. He apologized for the ongoing
lawsuit but argued that it wasn't his fault.
Kroenke took a few questions from the room. Dallas Cowboys owner
Jerry Jones, a fierce Kroenke advocate who championed the
relocation and helped push it over the finish line during a
contentious vote in January 2016, told the room that Kroenke had
done a lot for the league.
Then, in an unusual move, Goodell asked Kroenke to leave the
room, sources told ESPN. He did.
That's when Pash told the room that the league was notified by
Kroenke's attorneys that Kroenke is challenging the
indemnification agreement that all three teams involved in the
L.A. derby in 2016 -- the Rams, Chargers and Raiders -- signed
on the morning of the vote.
Over the years, teams have been required to provide eight years
of phone records and emails for discovery. This past summer, St.
Louis Circuit Judge Christopher McGraugh ordered Kroenke and
five other owners to provide financial records to help a jury
determine potential damages. Earlier in October, McGraugh fined
Clark Hunt of the Kansas City Chiefs, John Mara of the New York
Giants, Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots and the
Cowboys' Jones for failing to provide full records. Kroenke has
been footing almost all the bills.
Sources said the room seemed stunned by Pash's update on
Kroenke's view of the indemnification agreement.
Jones spoke and reminded his colleagues that Kroenke has been a
good partner, engineering the league's return to Los Angeles
after 22 years away and building a stadium that some involved in
its construction refer to as "our $6 billion stadium."
Next came Kraft, who sources said seemed to speak for many in
the room that Kroenke's position was unfair. He mentioned all
the legal hassle he had gone through. In 2016, he had served on
a six-person L.A. committee. He argued that if providing
financial records as a result of lawsuits would be a consequence
of serving on league committees, it would dissuade other owners
from wanting to be on committees and making consequential
decisions for the league.
Raiders owner Mark Davis reminded the room that, in 2016, the
L.A. committee recommended a rival Raiders-Chargers stadium
project in Carson, California, by a 5-1 vote over Kroenke's
project in Inglewood.
Mara spoke next and said that Kroenke's change in position was
ridiculous and that if Kroenke had not agreed to indemnify the
league, the owners wouldn't have voted for him to move. He said
anyone who was in the room in Houston when the vote was taken
would know that.
The sources said Jones argued that he has been dealing with the
legal issues, too, and indicated that the problems were not the
fault of Kroenke or the league but were because one owner's
deposition was shaky. That owner's name was not mentioned.
But in 2019, an ESPN report on the Rams-Chargers marriage
detailed that discovery in the lawsuit had turned up an email
from an official affiliated with the competing Carson proposal
that outlined to St. Louis authorities all the ways the Rams
seemed to be in violation of the league's relocation policy,
providing a blueprint for the city of St. Louis' lawsuit.
A source close to Kroenke says now that the Rams owner believes
that some of the legal issues arise from that email and that
after building the stadium and agreeing to house the Chargers as
a tenant for $1 a year, he shouldn't be responsible for all
legal fees.
Jones and Pash had a brief back-and-forth, then Jones asked Pash
whether Kroenke had tried to settle the lawsuit.
Pash replied that he had, sources told ESPN. Jones indicated
that Kroenke's settlement figure was billions of dollars. Pash
refused to confirm the figure -- a source with direct knowledge
of the situation told ESPN it was less than a billion -- but
told those in the meeting that it was more than the net worth of
some in the room.
Sources then described several owners speaking up.
Jim Irsay of the Indianapolis Colts said the owners should call
Kroenke back into the room to answer questions from the
membership. Jones argued that Kroenke shouldn't do so without an
attorney.
Art Rooney II of the Pittsburgh Steelers said lawyers should
handle all these issues. Mara then reiterated that nobody in the
room would have voted for Kroenke to move if not for the full
indemnification.
At one point, sources told ESPN, Jones seemed to indicate that
Kroenke might sue the league over the indemnification agreement.
Jones mentioned that, in 1995, the league sued him over
sponsorship deals and he countersued.
The St. Louis lawsuit, currently in discovery phase, is due for
trial on Jan. 10 -- weeks before Kroenke's SoFi Stadium hosts
the Super Bowl.
Other topics during the owners-only session included a
discussion about the emails that have been released recently
concerning the Washington Football Team workplace misconduct
investigation.
Davis, who accepted Jon Gruden's resignation after emails from
2011 showed that the coach had used racist, anti-gay and
misogynistic language, asked Goodell why he had learned of the
emails only right before they were made public.
Although Davis didn't accuse Goodell of leaking the emails,
Goodell told the room that the league wasn't behind the leak.
And Tanya Snyder, wife of WFT owner Dan Snyder, apologized to
the room that the league has suffered as a result of the
investigation.
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https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32486646/los-angeles-rams- owner-stan-kroenke-angers-nfl-owners-financial-pivot-related- lawsuit-st-louis-move-sources-say>
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