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Chip Rosenbloom and his sister, Lucia Rodriguez have found a buyer for their 60% stake in the St. Louis Rams. Illinois businessman Sahid Khan has entered into an agreement to purchase their stake in the team. Now things get a little interesting.
Stan Kroenke owns 40% of this team, and it does not look like Khan’s bid is for the entire team. Under an operating agreement Kroenke has the right of first refusal, meaning he can kill this deal and purchase the 60% stake for himself. However, since he owns the Colorado Avalanche, and the Denver Nuggets he would need to get a waiver from the NFL and its cross ownership rules to purchase the Rams outright.
NFL ownership rules state that team owner may not own teams in other sports outside their team’s NFL home market.
For this deal to go forward first Kroenke must approve of it, and then 75% of the NFL owners must approve of Kahn as the new majority owner. Since it is unlikely the NFL will allow Kroenke to buy the Rams outright, he will probably allow the sale to take place. Kroenke has 60 days to decide what to do with his stake in the team.
Now Khan and his wife have been accused by the IRS of illegally sheltering 250 million in profits during a time span of 1999-2003, so that might cast a hint of doubt on getting approved by the other NFL owners. It seems that Khan paid 68 million dollars to settle the dispute, but insists that he did nothing wrong. That may be enough to make this a moot point.
It would seem at this point that the only one who can kill this deal is Kroenke, who is a native of Columbia, Missouri. It doesn’t seem very likely that he will, and the safe bet seems to be that Khan pays around 750 million for a 100% ownership stake in the Rams.
Related Links:
•St. Louis Rams news and notes
•St. Louis Rams Examiner
•The Business of the NFL
•NFL Complete.com
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