It is no surprise to find out that the NFL is back in the courtroom, looking to settle a case that came about due to one of its owners’ business practices. It is, however, surprising to learn that the league is taking money from its own teams to help pay that settlement.
According to The Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan, the league has quietly taken $7.5 million from each club’s revenue-sharing payments to help pay a settlement to the city of St. Louis.
The settlement in question comes from a 2017 lawsuit filed on behalf of the city of St. Louis, its county and their sports complex authority, stating Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke, other team officials and the league knew as early as 2013 that the Rams planned to relocate but lied in denying it until 2016.
The settlement was reached in Nov. 2021, but until now it was unknown how the league and the Rams would pay for it. We now know the answer is by sharing the brunt of the cost across all 32 clubs.
This was not originally supposed to be the plan, as Kroenke and the NFL initially planned to keep the other 31 teams out of the lawsuit. That’s why according to Kaplan, “The owners can be a tight-knit club, so Kroenke appearing to go back on his indemnification promise has bruised many feelings.”
It is unknown as to whether the $232.5 million sum from the New England Patriots and the 30 other clubs will be payed back or not.
