UPDATE 1-Limbaugh joins group bidding for St Louis NFL team

* Missouri native joins group bidding for Rams

* Former football commentator for ESPN

* Rams valued at $913 mln - Forbes
(Adds background in last paragraph)

CHICAGO, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Conservative talk show host Rush
Limbaugh wants to own a National Football League team.

A spokesman for Limbaugh confirmed on Tuesday that the talk
show host had said in a statement to KMOX Radio in St. Louis
that he had joined a group trying to buy the St. Louis Rams.

The statement said that Limbaugh and Dave Checketts, owner
of the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues, would operate
the football team, Limbaugh's producer, Kit Carson, confirmed.

The statement said Limbaugh would not discuss the bid
further because of a confidentiality agreement with Goldman
Sachs, which was hired by the family of former Rams owner
Georgia Frontiere to review her estate.

A spokesman for Checketts declined to comment, but
Checketts has acknowledged a desire to buy the Rams.

Last month, Forbes magazine valued the Rams at $913
million, ranking them 25th out of 32 NFL teams.

Limbaugh, one of the most highly paid figures in broadcast
media, is a football fan who came close to landing a spot as a
commentator on "Monday Night Football" on ABC in 2000.

Three years later, Limbaugh, who played football in high
school, joined ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown."

After a month on the show, he resigned amid controversy
after saying that the media wanted Philadelphia Eagles
quarterback Donovan McNabb to succeed because he is black.

Limbaugh was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and later
worked for the Kansas City Royals baseball team.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Ted Kerr and Matthew
Lewis)