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Rams News: NFL, All 32 Teams Being Sued Over Rams Relocation to Los Angeles

By Jason Reed

May 1, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; General view of Los Angeles Rams helmet and NFL Wilson Duke football and the Olympic torch at the peristyle end of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. NFL owners voted 30-2 to allow Rams owner Stan Kroenke to relocate the franchise from St. Louis to Los Angeles for the 2016 season. The Rams selected Jared Goff (not pictured) with the No. 1 pick of the 2016 NFL draft after a trade with the Tennessee Titans. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
May 1, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; General view of Los Angeles Rams helmet and NFL Wilson Duke football and the Olympic torch at the peristyle end of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. NFL owners voted 30-2 to allow Rams owner Stan Kroenke to relocate the franchise from St. Louis to Los Angeles for the 2016 season. The Rams selected Jared Goff (not pictured) with the No. 1 pick of the 2016 NFL draft after a trade with the Tennessee Titans. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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The latest bit of Rams news may seem unsettling to fans of the National Football League. The city of St. Louis is suing not only the NFL but all 32 NFL teams.

Last January the then NFL made shockwaves when announcing that the then St. Louis Rams were set to complete a relocation to Los Angeles. In a vote in which 30 out of 32 owners approved, the Rams were given the green light to return home to Southern California. It definitely broke the hearts of the St. Louis fans, and that is even more evident with the latest Rams news.

News has broken out that the city of St. Louis, in particular, the St. Louis Circuit Court, has filed a lawsuit against the NFL and all 32 of its teams. In the final claim of a lengthy 52-page document, the plaintiffs asserted:

"The conduct of Defendants as described above was outrageous, willful and wanton and demonstrated a reckless or wanton disregard of the rights of Plaintiffs and others."

Long story short, the city of St. Louis is arguing that the NFL broke its own relocation policy in moving the Rams to Los Angeles, also adding things such as the total revenue lost because of the relocation.

Every single NFL team is included in this lawsuit, alongside the owner of each and every team. St. Louis is going all out in the lawsuit, seeking essentially relief from the National League Football league for all of the revenue that the city has lost. In the concluding remarks of the document, it is stated:

"WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court find in their favor and against Defendants, award disgorgement of Defendants’ profits (or in the alternative, award damages to Plaintiffs in an amount to be determined at trial), award punitive damages, and grant any other necessary or appropriate relief"

Basically, the city wants money, and if the NFL and all 32 teams are actually found guilty they could get a whole bunch of it. The document claims that the average yearly loss for the state of Missouri, because of this move, is $15 million.

An interesting dynamic also coming out of this is if the cities of Oakland and San Diego will look to join the lawsuit or file ones similar. Both recently had their teams relocated, with the Chargers also heading to Los Angeles, and could seek similar payment from the NFL.

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Overall, it will be interesting to see how this lawsuit unfolds and how the NFL will respond to it. I would not be surprised if this discourages the NFL from green-lighting any relocations in the near future.

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