Giants co-owner John Mara a part of lawsuit over Rams relocation to LA

Giants co-owner John Mara finds himself embroiled in a lawsuit filed by the city of St. Louis against the NFL.

St. Louis has filed a lawsuit against the NFL regarding the relocation of the city’s former football team, the Rams. The NFL organization began playing in Los Angeles back in 2016.

The lawsuit could result in a trial if a settlement isn’t reached prior to then, and on Monday, a judge ruled the plaintiffs can gain access to financial-worth information involving NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and five team owners, according to Randy Karraker of 101 ESPN in St. Louis.

Those five owners, reportedly, are Stan Kroenke (Rams), Jerry Jones (Cowboys), Jerry Richardson (formerly of the Panthers), Robert Kraft (Patriots), and John Mara (Giants).

Mike Florio of NBC’s ProFootballTalk notes the judge has concluded that existing proof backs up the idea the aforementioned owners (and Goodell) handled the relocation of the Rams fraudulently.

CBS Sports Radio and FOX Sports Radio legal analyst Amy Dash points out via her official Twitter account that Goodell knew Kroenke was planning to build a stadium in the Los Angeles area but denied the knowledge of those plans at a subsequent press conference (which was prior to Super Bowl 48 in 2014).

Goodell was caught in a lie as evidence shows he knew of plans by Stan Kroenke to build a stadium & vowed to keep it confidential but later said at a presser he did not know of any such plans

— Amy Dash (@AmyDashTV) July 13, 2021

Florio expands on this apparent move by Goodell, writing that Kroenke spoke on his plans to build a new LA stadium during a 2013 conference call (which included himself, Goodell, Mara, and Steelers owner Art Rooney). Kroenke apparently wanted to keep the information and news on the down-low, to which Goodell responded, “We will respect your confidentiality.”

Then during the press conference prior to Super Bowl 48, Goodell said, “[Kroenke] is a very successful developer. He has billions of dollars of projects that are going on around the country in real estate development. So I think instead of overreacting, we should make sure we do what’s necessary to continue to support the team locally as the fans have done in St. Louis. And make sure we do whatever we can to make sure that team is successful in the St. Louis market…There are no plans to my knowledge of a stadium development,” per Florio.

Karraker also reports Kevin Demoff, Rams COO, gave Goodell talking points for the presser.

2014 Email from Demoff to NFL says L.A. land story is coming out. League responds "what should we say." Demoff provides talking points that Goodell uses in Super Bowl press conference, denying he knows land purchase by Kroenke is for stadium.

— Randy Karraker (@RandyKarraker) July 12, 2021