Seven games into the season, the Los Angeles Rams are doing extremely well, dropping just one out of their seven games. But off the field, turmoil seems to be boiling beneath the surface.
When he moved the Rams from St. Louis to Los Angeles in 2016, team owner Stan Kroenke vowed to cover millions of dollars in legal expenses. But according to a scathing report by Seth Wickersham of ESPN, it seems Kroenke is backing out of his promise. Unsurprisingly, the development irked many of his fellow team owners.
The legal update from NFL general counsel Jeff Pash, during the owners' first in-person meeting since December 2019, stunned many in the room, according to accounts from people who were there and others briefed on the proceedings.
Kroenke flip-flopping on his pronouncement would affect all NFL teams since they have been footing the bill as well over the last five years, with some already reaching eight figures, according to Wickersham.
The Rams and other owners are embroiled in a fierce, four-year lawsuit from the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority, which argues that the league broke its own relocation guidelines, misled the public on its plans to leave the city, and cost the city millions in revenue. The league has lost many of its motions and was denied a hearing in the US Supreme Court.
It's still unclear if the Rams will be affected by the situation, but Kroenke's move adds to the recent string of high-profile controversies in the NFL, including Jon Gruden's racist e-mail, Cal McNair's anti-Asian slur, and Urban Meyer's scandalous video.
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