Details Revealed as Rams Prepare Move to St. Louis : Football: Deal includes guarantee on sales of luxury box seats. Frontiere to sell 30% of club for $60 million.

Los Angeles Rams owner Georgia Frontiere is expected to review an offer today from a Missouri business group that would move the NFL team to St. Louis in exchange for providing the club with a potential of at least $20 million in annual profits, covering a $30-million payoff to the city of Anaheim and making up the team’s 1994 losses.

Frontiere also is expected to sell 30% of the team to St. Louis businessman Stan Kroenke for about $60 million.

Included in the agreement is an unprecedented guarantee that at least 85% of the luxury boxes and club seats will be sold for the next 15 years, accounting for at least $10 million a year for the team.

“I think it’s as good an economic deal as there is in football today,” said John Shaw, Rams president. “It’s a deal, as far as the economics are concerned, that will far exceed the Anaheim or Southern California opportunity.”

The Rams’ move, which will be announced Tuesday in St. Louis if all the paperwork is completed, will be conditional on:

* National Football League approval.

* St. Louis’ sale of about 45,000 personal-seat licenses, which would range from $250 to $4,500.

* The 100% sale of club seats and sideline luxury boxes for the next three years.

Shaw said the Rams can void the deal if the St. Louis group fails to meet those conditions by the end of April.

“I feel all substantial points have some resolution, but until language is worked out, we have no deal,” Shaw said. “My anticipation is, if documents are completed by (today), we would go to St. Louis Sunday, review the situation and announce the move as early as Tuesday. If papers are not completed, then we won’t be going Sunday.”

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After months of negotiations, Shaw reached an understanding with FANS Inc. (Football at the New Stadium), the organization working to lure an NFL team to St. Louis, when it agreed to guarantee the sale of 85% of all club seats and luxury boxes for the next 15 years. The pledge is expected to be backed by Civic Progress, a coalition of St. Louis’ 28 largest businesses.

“That got us over the hump,” Shaw said.

The Rams will sign a 30-year lease and will receive all revenue from concessions, while paying rent of $250,000 a year for the 70,000-seat domed stadium, which is expected to be completed in late October.

The Rams would open the 1995 season in Busch Stadium and would seek temporary quarters while awaiting construction of a $12-million to $15-million practice facility. Shaw said the site for a practice facility has not been determined but would not delay Tuesday’s expected announcement.

“This transaction will be an intent to move to St. Louis, and until conditions are met and the transaction has closed, the team will still be in Los Angeles,” Shaw said. “As far as when we will physically move to St. Louis, that hasn’t really been determined yet.”

Much of the deal hinges on the sale of personal-seat licenses, which have yet to be marketed. To purchase season tickets, fans would have to pay a one-time fee in addition to the price of the tickets.

“The prime 50-yard-line type of seat will cost $4,500,” Shaw said. “There will be several thousand seats in the $250 range, and there will be 7,000 to 8,000 seats that will be sold on a game-to-game basis with no personal-seat license fee.”

Money from the sales of seat licenses, which is expected to generate more than $60 million, will be used to:

* Pay off the estimated $30 million owed on the outstanding bonds for the renovation of Anaheim Stadium when the Rams moved to that location in 1980.

* Cover all legal expenses in preparing for the move as well as any legal costs that might arise from lawsuits.

* Cover any damages that might be owed on Juliette Low School once the team gives six-months notice that it is vacating Rams Park, the practice facility at the school.

* Cover all moving expenses.

* Build the team’s new practice facility.

* Contribute to the expenses the St. Louis group will absorb for marketing the personal-seat licenses.

* Pay St. Louis beer distributor Jerry Clinton $8 million for giving up his 30% share of the lease on the new stadium that was set up when the city was hoping to attract an expansion team.

* Reimburse the Rams for losses in 1994, which Shaw projected to be $6 million to $7 million, the result of poor attendance, decreased radio rights and an increased payroll.

There was speculation earlier that FANS would also cover an expected $12-million to $15-million NFL relocation fee--paid to NFL owners for eliminating the expansion opportunity in a new city. But Shaw said that issue has not been addressed yet.

“It is not part of the deal,” Shaw said. “There appears to be some confusion on the matter. St. Louis will pay for all of our relocation costs, but as for a fee for moving to another city and removing the expansion opportunity, I’m not sure that exists in this case because the NFL owners rejected expansion in St. Louis.”

Shaw declined to put an exact figure on the team’s projected profit as a result of the St. Louis deal, but he said: “The basic deal is a brand-new facility with virtually all revenue streams to the tenant, including club seating and a large number of executive suites at virtually no cost to the tenant.”

Asked if a $20-million profit was in the ballpark, a source close to the negotiations said: “That’s a little conservative.”

Although the move is conditional, Shaw said the St. Louis group is not guaranteeing the sale of 45,000 personal-seat licenses.

“They don’t know how many they can sell,” he said. “The sale of the seats is a condition to the deal being completed. They anticipate selling that many, and we have asked them to hit a minimum number by the time of the National Football League owners’ meetings in March.

“We anticipate closing the deal two to five weeks after, and, if we gain NFL approval, at that time we will be looking for all conditions of the deal to have been met. If they are unable to reach the numbers, then we have the option of voiding the deal.”

The Rams must file a “statement of reasons” with the league explaining their move. Then, after the league has conducted a 30-day investigation, they will need 23 of 30 team owners to vote for the move.

“I think we will file an application with the league in the next couple of weeks,” Shaw said. “We will probably wait until the owners meeting for the league vote, but will take direction from the commissioner if he wants to have an earlier meeting.

“I can’t predict how owners are going to vote, but I think it serves the league’s interests at this time to allow the team to move to St. Louis. We’re moving from a two-team marketplace so the fans of Los Angeles won’t be denied the opportunity for a football team. We’re moving into a marketplace that’s unoccupied.”

There has been speculation that the Rams have been assured of league approval. Insiders say that if the Rams were concerned about having their application rejected, they would have filed an antitrust lawsuit in Missouri, which would have provided home-court advantage in the event litigation became necessary. The NFL also has the option of filing a similar lawsuit, and would do so in California if it planned to contest the move, but there has been no indication that the league is considering any such action.

The deal worked out with FANS, which was spearheaded by former Sen. Thomas Eagleton and the efforts of local politicians and businessmen, are separate from the sale of 30% of the Rams to Kroenke, but both announcements are expected Tuesday.

“We don’t have a price totally set at this time, but there is an understanding between ownership and Kroenke,” said Shaw, who previously estimated the value of the franchise at $200 million. “We would like to complete the sale transaction by the time of the announcement, but we’re not absolutely sure we can have the paperwork done.”

Kroenke would have first right of refusal if Frontiere elected to sell the rest of the team, but there is no option for him to gain majority interest at some point, as he had wanted.

“We look to him as being an active partner who will contribute to the success of the franchise,” Shaw said. “But by league rules and definition, all control has to be vested in one partner, which in the case here will be Georgia.”

The Rams seriously considered Baltimore after making it known that they were considering a move, but Peter Angelos, chief executive officer of the Baltimore Orioles, did not prove to be a compatible business partner, and Baltimore had yet to begin construction on a stadium.

Kroenke’s low profile, reflected by his willingness not to demand majority interest at some point, and St. Louis’ ability to provide a nearly finished new stadium prompted Shaw to focus on FANS. As for Anaheim and Save the Rams, did they ever have a chance?

“I think one of our high priorities was a brand-new, football-only facility,” Shaw said. “That was one of the main things we were looking for.”

St. Louis, like Anaheim, failed to show much support for a losing football team a few years ago. After moving from Chicago, the Cardinals had only 10 winning seasons in their 28-year run in St. Louis and left for Phoenix in 1987, after the city failed to produce a new stadium.

The city will now be getting a team that has not advanced to the playoffs since 1989, and has compiled a 23-57 record the last five years.

“I think we minimized our financial risk in coming to St. Louis, but there is always a responsibility and obligation to try and put a good product on the field,” Shaw said. “Fans want to see a good product, and our fan base will be hurt if we’re not competitive. But our financial risk will not be as great in St. Louis if that happens.”

Shaw, who has not visited St. Louis since 1986, said he would retain his position with the team for the time being and would commute from Los Angeles to St. Louis. One of the first questions he undoubtedly would have to address in St. Louis is an earlier statement challenging the passion of fans there.

“That’s somewhat of an inaccurate statement,” Shaw said. “I never questioned St. Louis as a sports market. I made the statement (that) Baltimore displayed greater passion, and that was my feeling at the time. . . . That wasn’t meant to say that St. Louis doesn’t have any passion for a football team.”