Shaw: No Ram Sale Yet : Pro football: Team president denies report that Missouri businessman will buy minority interest.

Ram President John Shaw emphatically denied a report out of St. Louis on Wednesday that the Rams have agreed to sell a minority interest in the team to Columbia, Mo., businessman Stan Kroenke.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, citing an unnamed source, is reporting in today’s editions that the move to St. Louis is all but a certainty because Kroenke has the option to buy up to 40% of the team, a share worth about $60 million.

The source told the newspaper that “this is an agreement, not a proposal.” The deal reportedly has no buyout provision but instead gives Kroenke the first option to purchase the team from Ram owner Georgia Frontiere if she decides to sell.

But Shaw, who has also been negotiating with groups from Orange County and Baltimore, said Wednesday night that “there is absolutely no truth” to the report.

“No deal has been reached,” Shaw said. “Nothing is imminent. We continue to negotiate. No deal to sell off any part of the team has been reached.”

Neither Kroenke nor officials from FANS Inc., the St. Louis group negotiating to bring the Rams to St. Louis, could be reached Wednesday night.

Kroenke, who led an ownership group that was formed last fall during the NFL expansion race but failed to land a team for St. Louis, was in Los Angeles two weeks ago to discuss the possible sale of the Rams with Shaw. He has also been in contact with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are for sale.

FANS, headed by former U.S. Sen. Thomas Eagleton, has been negotiating a wish list of items the Rams would like to see met before moving to St. Louis, including construction of a practice facility, covering about $15 million in NFL relocation fees and paying $30 million the Rams owe for Anaheim Stadium improvements.

Times staff writer T.J. Simers and the Associated Press contributed to this report.