Just as the news spread that the St. Louis Rams were being relocated to Los Angeles, the anarchy soon followed after. While the city of St. Louis, Missouri, would be losing their second professional football team, the fans would be losing their livelihood.
In fact, a group of four lawyers have decided to file a class action lawsuit against owner Stan Kroenke. James Pudlowski, Louis Cross III, Gail Henry and Steve Henry filed the lawsuit to the St. Louis Circuit Court, claiming the Rams violated the law by making false statements that tampered with the sales of goods and merchandise.
While Kroenke made it publicly seem as though his intentions were to stay in St. Louis, the unfavorable economic situation led him to begin pondering other possibilities.
The lawsuit aims at the false propaganda done the by owners and front office, which affected areas such as ticket sales, merchandise purchases, and potential relocation possibilities inside the city of St. Louis.
The suit provided a strong foundation for the accusations, leading to deception that was done with intent, via Jacob Kirn of the St. Louis Business Journal:
“in marketing and selling the subject tickets and merchandise and concessions to Named Plaintiffs and Class Plaintiffs, Defendants engaged in deception in that they conveyed information to Named Plaintiff and Class Plaintiffs regarding the future location of the Rams that had the tendency or capacity to mislead or deceive…”
The suit seeks of compensatory damages, which will be spread towards the different facets the suit claims to.
Another interesting area that may play out with the lawsuit is the work done towards the idea of a new stadium in St. Louis.
At the time of the announcement to relocate, the St. Louis Stadium Task Force had already contributed $16 million towards the construction of a new stadium on the Riverfront.
While the fans still grieve the departure of their lone football franchise, the break up may end up becoming an ongoing drama.
