ST. LOUIS — A year after the historic settlement of a lawsuit against the NFL and Rams, the three governmental bodies that brought the suit in 2017 agreed Wednesday on a deal to split up the funds.

An aerial view of the Dome at America’s Center on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015, when it still bore the name of sponsor Edward Jones, a St. Louis-based investment firm.
A proposal released Nov. 22 to divide the $519 million in Rams settlement money received its final approval Wednesday when the board that owns The Dome at America’s Center — the St. Louis Regional Convention and Ƶ Authority — voted to approve it.
The RSA’s vote, which was unanimous, was the last approval needed for a tentative agreement released last week between St. Louis, St. Louis County and the RSA.
“Motion passes, we have a deal,” the Rev. Earl Nance Jr., the RSA’s chairman, said as the vote concluded.
It has been a year since the $790 million settlement with the NFL and Rams — over $275 million went to attorney fees — was announced. But it came with no instructions on how to divide up the settlement, and the three plaintiffs have been negotiating over each party’s share ever since.
People are also reading…
Under the proposed agreement, the city, where the Rams played their home games and which led the charge in 2015 to try and keep the team from moving to Los Angeles, would get the largest chunk of the settlement money: $250 million.

The Rev. Earl Nance Jr., chairman of St. Louis Regional Convention and Ƶ Authority, talks to the media after the RSA board voted to approve a deal on how to divide $519 million in Rams settlement money on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022.
St. Louis County, which helped finance the Dome but did not join the ill-fated effort to build a new riverfront stadium, would get $169 million. The RSA, the third plaintiff in the lawsuit, would get $70 million.
Another $30 million would go to the city to appropriate to the ongoing expansion of the America’s Center convention center downtown, which was running over budget due to soaring construction costs when the city and county issued bonds to begin the project earlier this year.
will be introduced Thursday at the Board of Aldermen. Alderman Jack Coatar is the sponsor.
The agreement was reached last week after Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and St. Louis County Executive Sam Page showed up at the negotiating table — the first time Nance said he saw them there.
Mayor Jones attended the RSA meeting Wednesday but said she was just there to observe and did not make any remarks. She declined to take questions after the vote, but her spokesman distributed a joint statement between her, Page and Nance that said the distribution agreement was reached “in the spirit of collaboration.”
“Our agreement is based on the belief that the best days for the St. Louis region are ahead of us and there is no challenge the region can’t overcome when we work together,” they said in the statement.
Though the RSA board voted earlier this month to endorse setting the money aside and investing it collaboratively for “catalytic” regional projects, it ultimately went along with the proposed division of the money. There’s about $15 million remaining in the Dome’s capital fund, and the agreement that provides it $4 million in annual payments from the city, county and state expires in 2024. Beyond that, there’s no other money coming to the Dome, so the RSA needed a large enough share of the settlement for maintenance and capital expenditures, such as a new $255,000 point-of-sale system.
And the Dome has “a very good year” ahead of it, Convention and Visitors Commission Director Kitty Ratcliffe told the board. The XFL’s Battlehawks return for a new season, as does the University of Missouri’s football team for a fall game and a Bands of America competition, among other events.
“Just because the Rams aren’t in the Dome, it’s not empty,” Nance said.
Despite going along with the division of the funds, the RSA board reiterated its position from earlier in the month that encouraged the city and county to set aside their respective shares to “maximize” the benefits for a “multi-generational impact.” Some members had expressed an interest in using an endowment structure to keep the money available for years to come, one of several ideas floated by regional business group Greater St. Louis Inc. centered around jointly investing the money.
But RSA board member Dave Spence, an appointee of Gov. Mike Parson, said “there was no willingness” from either the Page or Jones administration to “entertain” the discussion of a joint fund.
“Sometimes you do things for the greater good, and that’s why we voted yes,” he said.
Now, the city and county will have to decide with their respective legislative bodies how to invest their shares, a discussion that has been overshadowed by the division of the money.
“The unanimous vote today by the Regional Ƶ Authority demonstrates the strong support for how the Rams funds will be distributed,” Page said in a statement on Twitter. “My office will work closely with the county council and listen to all suggestions to find the best ways to invest in (St. Louis County’s) future.”
The board also voted to issue a request for proposals for financial services to hold and invest the RSA’s share of the funds. The three parties are expected to receive their shares after the three-month U.S. Treasury bills the parties have the funds invested in mature Jan. 12.
As the meeting broke up Wednesday, Bob Blitz, one of the attorneys who led the Rams litigation and also represents the RSA, was asked what he thought of the deal. He didn’t want to opine on the proceedings. But Nance, the chairman, chimed in. Blitz, he said, was a “hero.”
Updated at 4:25 p.m.
Read previous Ƶ coverage of the relocation lawsuit against the National Football League, the Rams and team owner Stan Kroenke.