I have been a St. Louis Rams my entire life. My family had season tickets to Rams games for nearly five years. Through all the consistently mediocre seasons, coaching changes, and poor decision- making, I stood by the Rams until the very end.

But when I first heard Stan Kroenke was trying to move the Rams to Los Angeles, I knew those days of cheering on my Rams in my hometown were numbered. Kroenke might have been born in Missouri, but at the end of the day, he and all of the other NFL owners just want to make money. And unfortunately for Rams fans like me, that meant bringing football back to the lucrative market of LA. 

Moving the Rams to LA isn’t what bothers me most. It’s the fact that in taking our team away he slighted every single St. Louis Rams fan in the process, particularly the season ticket holders. A recent article by Deadspin tells of 40,000 St. Louis personal seat license holders (PSL’s) losing the opportunity to buy season tickets in LA and even worse, failing to offer a refund to those directly affected by the relocation. The team is moving half way across the country, and they planned to not offer refunds?! The scam was clear: the Rams did not want PSL’s to have their tickets transfer with the relocation, so that they could resell those tickets for exorbitant prices in LA.

Three groups have subsequently sued Kroenke and the Rams on behalf of the PSLs – lawsuits that will ultimately cost the Rams millions of dollars. The result? Some PSLs will be refunded, while others will be offered season tickets in LA depending on with whom the PSL signed their contract. So, Kroenke’s profit-seeking plan was blocked, at least in part. But should it really have taken three different lawsuits to give ticket holders what they rightfully deserve?

This is just one of about a hundred different ways Kroenke has continually screwed St. Louis and their fans. Should I be surprised? Of course not. This is the guy who turned down hundreds of millions of public dollars to build a new stadium in St. Louis, the only city to offer public stadium funding. This is the guy who left St. Louis fans with millions in taxes to maintain a stadium no longer being used. This is the guy that charged fans the fifth highest beer prices in the NFL. What does St. Louis have to show for it? A useless stadium, millions still owed in taxes, and a city without football. Kroenke, thanks for nothing, we won’t miss you.