Limbaugh Wants Seat in NFL Owners Box

St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts and talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh are teaming up on a bid for the St. Louis Rams.

Checketts, chairman of New York-based SCP Worldwide, the owner of the Blues and Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake, said in June he was putting together a bid for the Rams. SCP spokesman Eric Gelfand confirmed Monday that SCP submitted a bid.

Limbaugh did not immediately return a request for comment Monday from the St. Louis Business Journal, but in a statement to KMOX radio, he confirmed his participation in the bid.

"Dave and I are part of a bid to buy the Rams and we are continuing the process," Limbaugh told KMOX. "But I can say no more because of a confidentiality clause in our agreement with Goldman Sachs. We cannot and will not talk about our partners. But if we prevail we will be the operators of the team."

The St. Louis Business Journal was the first to report Limbaugh’s interest in the football team, back in July 2008.

“The Rams would be a great team to have,” Limbaugh said then in a phone interview from his Palm Beach, Fla., studio. “I have a lot of friends in ownership in the NFL, and my desire to get involved has not been a secret.”

Limbaugh grew up in Cape Girardeau but said that his Missouri ties would not play into his thinking about the Rams. “This is a business decision,” he said.

Kevin Demoff, Rams executive vice president and chief operating officer, declined Monday to confirm the identities of any bidders. Brother-and-sister duo Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez, who jointly own 60 percent of the Rams, hired Goldman Sachs several months ago to handle an ongoing assessment of ownership’s options, gauge interest in the franchise and review formal bids.

“Ownership has said they are under no pressure to sell the team and they will take their time,” Demoff said.

It’s not clear whether bids will be for the majority stake alone, or will also include the 40 percent stake owned by billionaire real estate and pro sports team maven Stan Kroenke. Kroenke has the right to match or beat any bids made for the Rosenbloom/Rodriguez stake, but NFL cross-ownership rules would require he sell his NBA Denver Nuggets and NHL Colorado Avalanche franchises if he becomes the Rams majority owner. Kroenke did not immediately return a request for comment on the latest Rams bid developments.

Forbes estimates the Rams are worth $913 million. But with the economy still sputtering, and the Rams among the worst teams in the NFL, sources suggest a value of $700 million to $750 million is more realistic