ST. LOUIS–The city of St. Louis announced Tuesday night it has reached a tentative agreement with St. Louis County and the Regional Sports Authority (RSA) over how to split the remaining $519 million Rams settlement. 

The deal comes one year after Rams owner Stan Kroenke and the NFL agreed to pay $790 million to settle a lawsuit over the team’s departure to Los Angeles. 

What You Need To Know

  • St. Louis City will receive $250 million for its share of the Rams settlement

  • St. Louis County, whose taxpayers helped fund the Rams stadium, will receive $169 million.

  • The Regional Sports Authority, which owns the domed stadium where the Rams played, will receive $70 million

  • There is also a contigency of $30 million earmarked for an expansion of the convention center

The City will receive the largest portion, $250 million, plus an extra $30 million to help with an expansion at the convention center. St. Louis County, whose taxpayers helped pay for the dome, will receive $169 million and the RSA, which owns the domed stadium where the Rams played, will receive $70 million. 

The terms of the agreement also states the St. Louis Board of Aldermen have until Jun. 30, 2023 to decide if it should appropriate the contingent $30 million to the expansion at the convention center, known as The America’s Center. If that doesn’t happen, the RSA will receive the money.

The agreement must still be approved by the board of directors for the RSA.

The law firm that handled the case received $275 million in attorney fees. That left $512 million, a figure expected to grow with interest to $519.5 million by the time the money is divided up.

The suit sought more than $1 billion in damages, claiming the NFL violated its own relocation guidelines in allowing the move, and that the league and the Rams enriched themselves at the expense of the community they left behind.

Stank Kroenke became the owner in 2010 and soon after, the team sought millions of dollars in upgrades to the dome, which was built with taxpayer money in the early 1990s to attract an NFL team.

St. Louis interests initially proposed a more modest upgrade, then eventually proposed a new $1 billion stadium along the Mississippi River that would be funded jointly by taxpayers, the team and the NFL. The league and the team balked.

Instead, Kroenke purchased land in Inglewood, California, and moved the team with approval of league owners in 2016. SoFi Stadium opened in September 2020 and is now home to both the Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers, who moved from San Diego in 2017.