Bob Wallace, the chair of Thompson Coburn's sports law group, was featured on the podcast Scoops with Danny Mac, to discuss what's happening in football, St. Louis and sports law.
In "The Kilcoyne Conversation," published on November 22, Bob sat down with Martin Kilcoyne, the News Director at Fox 2. The pair share a long history and passion for sports and the city.
Before coming to Thompson Coburn, Bob served as general counsel and executive vice president of the St. Louis Rams. Before that, he worked in the front offices of the Philadelphia Eagles and the St. Louis Football Cardinals.
Bob and Martin talked about Bob's years spent as a running back at Yale and joked about how he is probably the only person to have worked for two NFL teams that packed up and left town. Bob shared a story about his time working for the Cardinals when the team was considering a move out of St. Louis. He said it was top secret and they weren't sure if they would be going to Baltimore or Arizona until the last minute. The move eventually led Bob to a 200-day-a-year commute to Arizona.
Bob talked about being the first intern the NFL ever had during law school and the work it took to become a high level executive in the NFL. He said he reached out to the owner of the Cardinals, Bill Bidwill, who had shared similar experiences as a ball boy in the NFL and a student at Georgetown University. The rest was history as Bob accepted a position as a lawyer in St. Louis working on player negotiations and contracts.
He would go on to work 37 out of 40 years of his professional life in St. Louis. He remained close to Bidwill until his death and said despite him leading the Cardinals out of town, he never complained about the fan base in St. Louis. On the other hand and in true St. Louis sports fashion, the pair discussed the ongoing Rams case, Stan Kroenke and the impact of the NFL on the city. The NFL might not have ended well in St. Louis, but Bob has fond memories of the franchise's time here and now enjoys rooting for the Miami Dolphins.
Bob represents teams, prospective buyers of sports teams, companies interested in sports marketing and civic and government entities facing team relocation or facility issues. He also represents coaches, college administrators, and professional executives in addition to serving as an arbitrator and mediator in sports and other commercial disputes. You can catch more of Bob Wallace on the sports law podcast, After the Buzzer.
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