The NFL's Multi-Billion-Dollar Relocation Lawsuit

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Hey Friends,

Given your interest in the money and business behind sports, you’ve probably heard about the potentially multi-billion-dollar lawsuit surrounding the Rams’ relocation from St. Louis to Los Angeles in 2016.

So I’ve called in the experts today, Dan Lust & Tarun Sharma, to break down how we got here and what might happen next.

Dan (@SportsLawLust) is a Sports Law attorney at Geragos & Geragos and Co-Host of the Conduct Detrimental Podcast, while Tarun (@TKSharmaLaw) is a Third-Year Law Student at Minnesota Law and a frequent guest on the podcast. I highly recommend following them both on Twitter.

Enjoy!

The St. Louis Rams Relocation Lawsuit: Everything You Need To Know

By Dan Lust & Tarun Sharma

Thank you to Joe for giving us the opportunity to contribute to his newsletter. At Conduct Detrimental, we cover the intersection of Sports & Law and have been extensively covering the litigation over the Rams’ and the NFL’s decision to move the franchise from St. Louis to Los Angeles in a 3 part podcast series, which you can find here. To get you caught up on the issues, here it is boiled down to two basic components – what’s happened so far and what’s happening next.

What’s Happened So Far 

In 2017, St. Louis, St. Louis County, and the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority filed suit in St. Louis Circuit Court against the NFL, the Rams Franchise, Rams’ owner Stan Kroenke, and all 31 other NFL owners. At the core of the case is the allegation that the Rams always planned to move to Los Angeles and that the organization and the NFL unlawfully led St. Louis to believe there was a legitimate chance of saving STL’s franchise. From a legal perspective, lawyers for St. Louis are arguing that the defendants, i.e., the NFL, Rams, and Kroenke, failed to act in good faith when St. Louis was attempting to negotiate to keep the Rams and that the league thereby breached the NFL’s rules for franchise relocation. The NFL denies any wrongdoing and explicitly claims that these relocation rules do not create a binding contractual relationship with St. Louis – or any other home market – that could lead to the type of breach of contract case that we have here. They filed a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the case for this reason among others.

On September 14, 2021, Judge Christopher McGraugh entertained the NFL’s arguments for dismissal. He completely denied the defendants’ motion and ruled that St. Louis was entitled to have all components of their lawsuit heard in front of a jury. With the denial of the NFL’s summary judgment motion, the case is now barreling towards a trial date of January 10, 2022. The St. Louis Business Journal has reported that St. Louis will ask the jury for well more than a billion dollars in damages based on the damages to the surrounding economy and the fact that the Rams franchise is worth billions more following their alleged unlawful moves to Los Angeles.

But is it truly fair that the trial is being heard in front of a St. Louis Judge and a St. Louis Jury when St. Louis itself is the plaintiff in the case? That’s the crucial question up on appeal right now.

This past week, Conduct Detrimental had an exclusive look at an emergency filing by the defendants to a Missouri Appeals Court that hoped to move the trial out of the City of St. Louis, away from a St. Louis jury, and to an “impartial” venue. The NFL argues that “there is no way to eliminate the undue influence of plaintiffs over prospective jurors in St. Louis City given plaintiffs’ sweeping damages claim for alleged losses to City residents of jobs, economic development, and civic pride.” Interestingly, this argument stands in stark opposition to the arguments made by the Rams for moving the franchise from St. Louis to Los Angeles. In their petition to the League, the NFL argued that amongst other things, the people of St. Louis could not and were not adequately supporting the franchise.

What’s Happening Next

As we wait to hear the Missouri Court of Appeals decision on venue, the trial rolls on. Of note, jury selection has begun before Judge McGraugh who seems intent on pushing the case ahead with a St. Louis jury. With only a few months before opening arguments, chatter has begun surrounding what a possible settlement could look like between the two sides. Sports Law Legend Jim Quinn, who is representing the City of Oakland in a similar suit against the Raiders and the NFL over their move to Las Vegas, suggested last week on our Conduct Detrimental podcast that the NFL could decide to award an expansion franchise to St. Louis rather than risk damages that could cost the league and the Rams several billion dollars.

If this goes on, would the NFL consider bringing back an NFL team to St. Louis or risk getting hit for billions by St. Louis jurors? And if the NFL prevails, what does that mean for Buffalo, Jacksonville, and other NFL markets where there are already whispers of potential relocation?

Stay tuned for more updates on this case. It stands to have a large impact on the NFL front one way or another.

Dan Lust (@SportsLawLust) is a Sports Law attorney at Geragos & Geragos and Co-Host of the Conduct Detrimental Podcast. Tarun Sharma (@TKSharmaLaw) is a Third-Year Law Student at Minnesota Law and he is a frequent guest on the podcast in addition to publishing Conduct Detrimental’s weekly “Big Boom(!) Sports Law Newsletter,” which you can subscribe to through our website.

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Huddle Up is a daily letter that breaks down the business and money behind sports.

Join more than 48,000 professional athletes, business executives, and casual sports fans that receive it directly in their inbox each morning — it’s free.