Los Angeles Rams want Earth City training site
Purchase price? $1. But St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· sports authority says no way.
St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· Rams merchandise left by fans hangs on the fence outside the Rams Training Center on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in Earth City. The night before, the Rams announced they would be relocating to Los Angeles.
ST. LOUIS — The Los Angeles Rams, still shunned by St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ·' football faithful, could soon own their former practice facility in Earth City, according to court filings.
The purchase price? One dollar. The deal — set in motion when the
National Football League team arrived here in 1995 — is being challenged by the St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· Regional Convention and Sports Authority Complex, an agency supported by St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ·, St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· County and Missouri taxpayers.
The suit filed Friday in St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· Circuit Court seeks to disable the 1995 provision that allowed the team to purchase its 27-acre training site on the 29th anniversary of the agreement — which falls this month.
Rams owner Stan Kroenke took his team back to LA in 2016 after millions of dollars in public money were spent on failed plans to upgrade the Dome at America's Center or build a new "top-tier" stadium downtown.
Since then, the region has been embroiled .in lawsuits, including one that alleged Kroenke and others purposefully defrauded it, yielding a $790 million settlement for the city and county.
At issue in this case is an option in the former Rams Park lease that allows the now-departed team to buy the buildings, grounds and fields from the public as part of a quit claim deed transfer. The team requested to exercise that option on Tuesday, court filings say.
The lawsuit filed Friday claims that the $790 million Rams settlement "released any and all of the Rams' claims," giving the team no right to exercise the purchase option.
The fight over the transfer — which rang up $300,000 in legal fees in its first round — began when the Rams left town eight years ago.
The sports complex agency's longtime attorney, Bob Blitz, did not dispute that the Rams had the right to the $1 purchase after the lease of the facility was terminated. Blitz's law firm, Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch, argued that because the Rams lease had gone year-to-year, the lease was not terminated; it simply expired.
The $1 option would be valid with a lease termination, the attorneys claimed, but not an expiration. The Rams countered that the option was available through this year — the end of the original 30-year lease — regardless of the way the lease ended.
In November 2017, the Missouri Supreme Court sent the suit to arbitration. A three-member panel ruled in April 2019 that the $1 option was valid and did not violate state law.
"I'm disappointed," Jim Shrewsbury, the board chairman of the sports complex agency said at the time. "It's a significant asset, and it's worth a significant amount of value."
When the panel made its ruling, the property was valued at $12.7 million. Now, it's worth $24.4 million, according to a St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· County assessment.
During the team's tenure in St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ·, the Rams paid $25,000 annually to lease the training facility. After they left, the park sat vacant for about a year. In 2017, Lou Fusz Athletic, a youth soccer league, leased the land for its practices and games.
Blitz, whose law firm filed the suit, could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Businessman Dave Peacock, who was on the task force to explore a new riverfront stadium to entice the Rams into staying in St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ·, said in a text message Saturday that he was not well-versed on the facility contract but trusted that the sports complex agency had legitimate grounds for its actions.
"I hope the Rams both understand this and also think about what's right for them and a community that supported them for more than 20 years," Peacock wrote.
Colleen Schrappen – 314-340-8072 cschrappen@post-dispatch.com
