Sale of the Rams Was NFL’s Goal : Football: As one condition of approving a move to St. Louis, league wanted Frontiere to relinquish control of the team. Lawsuit likely.

The NFL, which eventually rejected the Rams’ proposed move to St. Louis, had insisted earlier this week that for the Rams to get approval, Georgia Frontiere would have to sell the team, John Shaw, the Rams’ president, said Thursday.

“It was outrageous,” Shaw said. “I heard from the commissioner and every member of the finance committee. I think that clearly strengthened Georgia’s resolve.”

Vowed Frontiere: “I will do whatever is necessary now to get the Rams to St. Louis.”

Shaw said the Rams probably will join St. Louis and Missouri officials in an antitrust suit in St. Louis before the end of the month and that Frontiere stands to win $2 billion in damages if she loses the 30-year deal with St. Louis.

Missouri Atty. Gen. Jay Nixon also has said he will seek a temporary restraining order against the NFL “to stop any unlawful restraint of trade,” which could allow the team to move for the time being.

Shaw said the NFL wanted Frontiere to sell the team to Stan Kroenke, a Missouri businessman who already has agreed to buy 30% of the team, and that the league also talked about prohibiting Frontiere from leaving the team to her heirs.

“It was taken up with Stan when he went before the membership earlier and he was offended by it,” Shaw said. “I finally told the finance committee if that was a condition of this transfer, I would find it punitive and we would take them to the wall on that.

“I met with the commissioner Wednesday morning, and he told me that was no longer an issue on the table. I don’t know why it disappeared so quickly unless they had been advised by counsel of their outrageous legal position.”

Tagliabue said the subject was never discussed, but Art Modell, owner of the Cleveland Browns, said, “I thought that was an option she should explore.”

How active was Modell in making such a case?

“Very active,” he said. “I like Georgia. I’ve known her for 30 years. I knew her late husband (former owner Carroll Rosenbloom). I’m very close to the family. I don’t want to see her get hurt in this process. I don’t want her to spend two years in litigation at her age.

“I thought a good option would be--if not immediately--over a period of time to help phase in a new owner. Maybe Kroenke in St. Louis. That would help things a little bit. That would not have been enough to make it OK, but it would have been a step in the right direction.”

Ram officials were fighting mad the day after their proposed move to St. Louis was rejected, 21-3, with six abstentions. One team official promised, “We’re going to court. We’re going for their throat.”

Tagliabue, who continued to sound an optimistic note, said the league will begin work now to have a team in St. Louis and two teams in Los Angeles. He suggested, as a Ram official had a day earlier, that the Cincinnati Bengals might be a candidate for a move to either location.

“Going forward now, next month and May, the mandate that I have is to see how we can achieve the twin objective of having teams in both St. Louis and Anaheim,” Tagliabue said. “Obviously not for the 1995 season, but as quickly as possible.”

Tagliabue said he doesn’t think there is need for litigation, but then the NFL is bound by an earlier agreement with the Rams not to proceed legally until after March 31.

“One of the easiest things to do is to file lawsuits,” Tagliabue said. “It costs $20, you get a word processor and you file. In most cases, it’s counterproductive.”

Shaw said the Rams have no alternative but to sue the league. Max Blecher, a Los Angeles attorney, will direct the Rams’ legal action.

“We are dealing here with very arrogant people,” said Blecher, who won $28 million in damages from the NFL while representing the Coliseum Commission in the Raiders’ move from Oakland. “It’s great to bring them down.”

The league, which has enjoyed little success in recent legal battles, never detailed what it would take in money for the Rams to win approval.

“We offered the league in excess of $25 million, with $18 million up front, to settle,” Shaw said. “The league never gave us an offer of any kind because I don’t think they wanted to settle this.”

Shaw and Frontiere charged Tagliabue with not relaying their offer to league owners before Wednesday’s vote, but Tagliabue disagreed.

“That’s absolutely untrue,” he said. “I said on the sharing of the gross receipts they wanted 34% of $74 million. If you figure that out, it’s $25.5 million (actually $25.16 million). Most of our owners are pretty good at arithmetic.”

Shaw said the Rams will make no further offers to the NFL, and unless contacted, the next time the Rams talk to the league, “We will be asking for money.”

Shaw said the Rams will let their Anaheim Stadium lease expire in early August and will negotiate with all stadium sites within 75 miles of Los Angeles for the 1995 season.

“If Anaheim has an interest in talking to us and wants a year-to-year arrangement, we will talk to them,” Shaw said. “For us to get to St. Louis this year, we would have to seek an affirmative injunction and, time-wise, that might be near impossible. But we will still consider it.”

Anaheim City Manager James D. Ruth said the city would consider allowing the team to play on at Anaheim Stadium without a lease but was making no promises.

“We won’t close any doors,” he said. “We would be willing to sit down with John Shaw and the Rams and see what we could do. We’re always willing to sit down with anyone and talk to them. But I’m not saying we’d do it.”

* Times staff writers Bill Plaschke in Phoenix and Greg Hernandez in Anaheim contributed to this story.