The outright duplicity that guided the words and actions of Rams owner Stan Kroenke and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell, among others, were widely assumed but not proven beyond doubt in the public’s eye until the release of court documents behind the $790 settlement with St. Louis regional entities. The collusion among team owners and the league goes beyond deception. It constitutes a pattern of abuse so egregious that congressional action is necessary to yank the league’s limited antitrust exemption.
The public would have been left to speculate and read between the lines about the extent of NFL owners’ abuse if not for the dogged pursuit of the truth by a St. Louis legal team. The threat of exposure in an open court case led Kroenke and company to buckle. But unlike many out-of-court settlements that require documents to be sealed, these court records made it into the hands of Post-Dispatch reporters Austin Huguelet, Katie Kull and Joel Currier.
Some might argue that it’s time to let this go. The region got its payout. The Rams are gone. Why keep digging up the past? It’s important for all cities and their taxpayers to understand that the escalating financial demands these franchises make on their host communities might be based on deliberate deceit.
