ST. LOUIS — On the day that St. Louis settled a lawsuit against the Rams and the NFL for $790-million many fans said they felt like the league was let off the hook at a time when they were backed up against the goal line.
“They could’ve went up another dollar or two,” said Renea Pruitt.
“The football industry is a multi-billion dollar industry,” said Tim Clemon. “They could’ve gotten and maybe even more. What are they doing with the money?”
The NFL has left town twice, and after settling the lawsuit without an expansion team, it's likely pro football is done at the Dome.
“It’s a little sad that they’re gone, but not exactly missed,” said Brenden Canada.
“We weren’t going to get a team back,” said Rob Huitt. “If we could stick it to them for whatever we could stick it to them for that’s good enough for me.”
However, this time the city and county are walking away with $513-million with an additional $276-million going to the attorneys who represented St. Louis in court.
“I think St. Louis is headed in a very great direction,” said Canada. “There’s a lot of work to be done. There’s still a lot of great things about St. Louis and we’re just going to amplify it even more.”
While it’s still unclear how the money will be split between the city and county, seemingly everyone has an idea of how to spend it.
"I feel like what they could do with that money is put it towards the stadium to get it paid off, and then put it into infrastructure in the city because it definitely needs it with the roads that they've got,” said Canada.
"I really don't care what they do with it to be honest with you,” said Huitt. “They should make a big billboard that says something about Kroenke I guess, I don't know."
“St. Louis has a lot of other awesome stuff without football,” said Mike Hill. “The football team lost.”
Stan Kroenke had previously agreed to indemnify the league in the case, but it's unclear how much of the $790-million he will be on the hook for.
The money from the settlement must be paid within 30 days.