ST. LOUIS — The hundreds of millions of dollars St. Louis, St. Louis County and the Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority got from a settlement with the Rams was moved to a higher-yielding account Thursday while the three parties continue to debate how to divide it.
In a joint statement Friday, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and St. Louis County Executive Sam Page said the money had been moved to a "flexible, low-risk account at Commerce Bank, in line with other City of St. Louis funds."
Last month, the 11-member board of the Regional Sports Authority met and voted unanimously to seek a request for proposal (RFP) on how to move about $513 million into a high-interest-bearing account. At that time, the money was getting about 1.4% interest and could have been earning at least 3.4%, according to David Spence, who was appointed by Gov. Mike Parson to serve on the board earlier this year.
The joint statement from Jones and Page said the money was moved on Thursday, "once the RSA took official action to allow us to do so."
The statement did not say what the interest rate of the new arrangement was.
The Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority, which operates the Dome at America's Center sued Rams owner Stan Kroenke and the NFL after Kroenke moved the team to Los Angeles in 2016.
St. Louis and St. Louis County joined the lawsuit and are now among the plaintiffs trying to figure out how to split the settlement.
Ultimately, Kroenke agreed to a $790 million settlement.
After attorney’s fees, that left $513 million for the plaintiffs.
The full statement from Jones and Page is as follows:
"On Thursday, St. Louis City, St. Louis County and the Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority reached an agreement to invest Rams settlement funds into a flexible, low-risk account at Commerce Bank, in line with other City of St. Louis funds.
"Once the RSA took official action to allow us to do so, we signed off on the movement of these funds. Meanwhile, negotiations continue towards an agreement on how to best divide these funds for the long-term benefit of our region."
