EARTH CITY, Mo. – The St. Louis Sports Authority filed a lawsuit Friday again preventing the Los Angeles Rams from purchasing the team’s former training center for $1.
The lawsuit aims to put out of action the 1995 provision that would allow the LA Rams to purchase the training facility located at 1 Athletic Drive this month.
According to our partners at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the fight over the transfer of the facility rang up $300,000 in legal fees in its first round, which began when the Rams first left St. Louis eight years ago.
The Post-Dispatch reports the training center’s attorney, Bob Blitz, did not dispute that the LA Rams had the right to purchase the facility for $1 if the lease for the facility had been terminated but the lease had actually just expired.
In April 2019, the $1 option was ruled valid and did not violate state law after the Missouri Supreme Court sent the suit to arbitration in November 2017.
“This is a fight worth having. We cannot allow a $25 million facility to be turned over for $1 to a guy who has shown time and again he has no interest in the St. Louis region. I fully support this lawsuit,” said St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page in a news release.
This lawsuit is just the latest chapter in the ongoing saga between the St. Louis region and Rams owner Stan Kroenke, who already paid a historic $790 million settlement to the city after relocating the team to Los Angeles.
For now, the battle over the facility continues, with both sides refusing to budge.
FOX 2 reached out to St. Louis County Executive Sam Page’s office and the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex committeeman Charlie Dooley, and both declined to comment due to the lawsuit being under litigation.
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