Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts interested in buying St. Louis Rams

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Blues and Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts is heading a group seeking to buy the NFL's Rams and keep the team in St. Louis.

On Monday, the Rams announced that the family of former owner Georgia Frontiere has hired the investment firm of Goldman Sachs to review the assets of her estate, including the NFL team. The move was seen as potentially expediting a sale of the franchise.

A spokesman for Checketts, Eric Gelfand, said Checketts first approached Frontiere's son, Chip Rosenbloom, several months ago about buying the team. Rosenbloom and his sister, Lucia Rodriguez, inherited 60 percent of the Rams when their mother died in January 2008. Billionaire Stan Kroenke, owner of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche, owns the remaining 40 percent.

Gelfand said Checketts has put together a group consisting of St. Louisans and outside investors. He provided an e-mail from Checketts expressing confidence the group was a good fit to buy the franchise, which Forbes magazine estimates has a value of $929 million.

Deseret News staff and wire reports