[TSFH Fan]

(The Mayor mentioned a stadium . . . but I didn't see a mention of location)

Mayor gives 'word' on Rams and new stadium at pregame rally
http://www.foxsports.com/midwest/story/ ... ess-090315

ST. LOUIS -- Mayor Francis Slay attended a rally touting progress of a task force to develop a new stadium on the downtown riverfront, giving fans his "word" there would be a new stadium and the Rams would be playing in it.

Dave Peacock, leader of the group, was a lot more circumspect. Peacock said he and Gov. Jay Nixon met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in New York on Wednesday and said, "I've never guaranteed anything."

About 300 people attended the rally in the Missouri Athletic Club parking lot Thursday night not far from the Edward Jones Dome, where the Rams and Kansas City Chiefs played in a preseason finale. The rally lasted about 20 minutes and wound up about a half-hour before kickoff.

Several protesters held signs saying, "No Vote, No Stadium."

[TSFH Fan]

Rams fans get a new NFL stadium update at rally
POSTED 10:34 PM, SEPTEMBER 3, 2015, BY JEFF BERNTHAL
http://fox2now.com/2015/09/03/rams-fans ... -at-rally/

[Video in original story]

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) - Rams fans didn't just cheer inside the stadium, they rallied before the game to hear the latest on the efforts to keep pro-football in St. Louis. That's when fans also got an update from those leading the charge to build a new riverfront stadium. Bob Blitz and Dave Peacock encouraged fans to

Rams fans rallied while a few demonstrators held signs, questioning the wisdom of investing in a new stadium. There were cheers when leaders fighting for a stadium took the stage.

Stadium point man Dave Peacock is encouraging fans to show the NFL how much support there is for football in St. Louis.

"This is our team and the more we fight for it, the more people that come out and fight for it and fight for our city. I think the better off we`re going to be." said Task Force Member Dave Peacock.

Peacock says the NFL will likely make a decision on whether the Rams are moving by the end of the year. Some state lawmakers have promised to block efforts to transfer bond payments for a new stadium at a time when current dome is not yet paid for.

"The only way we`re gonna move forward is if we have a concrete deal as well as a long term commitment from the league and a team that we will remain an NFL city. All those protections were what we laid out back in what I laid out originally in December." said Gov Nixon.

Peacock says the millions spent on a new stadium would be an investment that pay off in the long run.

"At least where I come from if you have a net fiscal return you typically put the money there and this project is that not to mention all the intangible benefits that go with it." said Dave Peacock.

Backers of a new stadium believe St. Louis will have an answer on the future of the Rams by the end of this year.

[TSFH Fan]

Gov. Jay Nixon weighs in on new St. Louis NFL stadium
POSTED 6:16 PM, SEPTEMBER 3, 2015, BY BETSEY BRUCE
http://fox2now.com/2015/09/03/gov-jay-n ... l-stadium/

[Video in original story]

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) - Missouri Governor Jay Nixon talked about the latest plans for the new football stadium on the riverfront.

NFL owner meetings will be held next month. The stadium task force is marshaling all the support it can for a nearly $1 billion dollar new stadium proposal. Fans are invited to a pep rally at the Missouri Athletic Club in downtown St. Louis before the Rams face the Kansas City Chiefs Thursday night.

But so far, some key lawmakers in Jefferson City have not joined the band wagon.

the vision of a striking new open air stadium perched on the St. Louis riverfront is appealing to city leaders who want to boost the appearance of the downtown riverfront. They also believe a new stadium will help the city`s economic development.

Critics in the Missouri legislature and some in the community question whether taxpayers should be on the hook for a second football stadium before the current one is even paid for.

Governor nixon insists it is not a risky proposition. "The only way we`re gonna move forward is if we have a concrete deal as well as a long term commitment from the league and a team that we will remain an NFL city. All those protections were what we laid out back in what I laid out originally in December."

The first group of economic development bonds for the stadium has already been approved by the Missouri development finance board. If lawmakers refuse to pay the bill for those bonds it could hurt the state`s AAA credit rating.

"Well Missouri`s credit rating, in order to keep that credit rating, we have to pay our bonds and we have a lot of bonds projects going." said Gov. Jay Nixon.

"I don`t want to give up because some legislators that are out expressing opposition in one way or the other to this. Things that are important are usually hard to get done. Big things are hard to get done. We`re certainly used to that, so it`s not scaring us away." said Mayor Francis Slay.

[TSFH Fan]

Vahe Gregorian SEPTEMBER 3, 2015
Future looked, felt bleak for NFL in St. Louis as preseason ended
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-co ... 92494.html

The Edward Jones Dome contained a lot of empties Thursday night as Chase Daniel (left) and the Chiefs closed out their preseason schedule against the Rams. SHANE KEYSER skeyser@kcstar.com

Considering the horde of Chiefs fans who traveled across the state, and the thousands of empty crimson seats on Thursday night at the Edward Jones Dome, a sea of red more suited to Arrowhead Stadium became the backdrop for their game against the Rams.

The surreal scene, with what looked to be fewer than 20,000 people in the stands, featured a booming “home of the CHIEFS” at the end of the Star-Spangled Banner and underscored what hovered over an otherwise trivial final exhibition game.

This Governor’s Cup game might have been for keeps, the trophy perhaps to be held in perpetuity by the winner if the Rams get NFL approval for owner Stan Kroenke’s scheme to move them back to California.

All of which is on the mind of the man for whom the trophy is bestowed, Gov. Jay Nixon, who is taking more frequently to emphasizing the significance of having the “NFL” in St. Louis rather than specifying it be the Rams.

That’s why Nixon was in New York on Wednesday, once more meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and various owners.

Accompanied, among others, by co-leader of the stadium task force Dave Peacock, Nixon continues touting a proposed $985 million stadium plan and makeover on the Mississippi River that he calls an “outstanding redevelopment project that won’t raise taxes.”

It would, though, call for an estimated $250 million in extensions of the bonds used to build the Edward Jones Dome, making the funding a point that many find unpalatable but that Nixon fervently believes is a must.

“Fans … know the value of an NFL franchise here,” Nixon said Thursday afternoon in his St. Louis satellite office. “They know the value of the brand.”

If, that is, it’s stable.

Not convinced?

By way of example, Nixon points across the state.

“You have to have top-flight facilities, committed fans and an ownership group committed to performing, producing and being active in the community. Kansas City has all three,” said Nixon, with a nod to Chiefs owner Clark Hunt. “And, consequently, good years and bad, Arrowhead’s a great place to see a football game and a tailgating experience second to none in the NFL.”

An “active, engaged ownership,” Nixon reiterated, was crucial to that.

And what the Rams fans are getting is anything but, nicely symbolized by the usually invisible Kroenke being on full view yucking it up for a series of practices the team recently held in Oxnard, Calif.

He also apparently contradicted his Silent Stan style with what the NFL Network called a “passionate and powerful” presentation of his vision of a stadium in Inglewood, Calif., to the NFL’s Committee on L.A. Opportunities.

That behavior is at the heart of the disillusionment with Kroenke, who took over as majority owner in 2010 and whose prevailing competitive commitment appears to be money.

Now, you might think that about many NFL owners.

But most feel the obligation to at least posture some sense of civic obligation — the absence of which here appears unconscionable.

Not that you’d see any protest of that inside the Dome, where a new policy posted outside said “management reserves the right to prohibit any signs” due to several factors, including “message content.”

So it’s a sad, exasperating and complicated issue for St. Louis and Rams fans, who with the musical chairs whirling may soon have another franchise headed here if they lose this one.

Since a glorious burst of two Super Bowls in three seasons, they’ve been getting kicked in the teeth for years with bad football (35 wins the last eight seasons) and rumblings of losing a team again. And now they’re effectively being held for ransom by a rich, rich man.

For all the objectionable and confounding aspects to this, including a lawsuit by six state legislators to block the funding of the stadium, the fundamental question for St. Louisans remains simple:

Do you want to be an NFL city or not?

Meanwhile, that’s perhaps a particularly sensitive matter In Kansas City, both in terms of how state money has been allocated over the years and what the implications would be of being the only NFL team in the state.

“That’s a hard question to answer,” Chiefs president Mark Donovan said, later adding, “It’s hard to say and hard to predict what it would mean if (the Rams) are there or they’re not.”

Hunt sits on the NFL’s Committee on L.A. Opportunities, which also is considering a proposal from the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders to build a stadium in Carson, Calif.

While declining broader comment, he said, “I think it’s a positive for the Chiefs and the National Football League having the Rams in St. Louis.”

Only time will tell if that will happen.

“It’s a challenging situation from all angles: (the Rams’) won-loss record, the ownership dynamics, the dynamics that come through the other cities and the other owners and the challenges of raising the money and selling the idea,” Viverito said. “There are as many scenarios as there are Republican presidential candidates right now.

“And one or more of those scenarios have another team playing in St. Louis sooner rather than later.”

And meaningless last exhibition game or not, the scene was a bleak one for the current one on Thursday night.

To reach Vahe Gregorian, call 816-234-4868 or send email to vgregorian@kcstar.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vgregorian. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com.

[Hacksaw]

Several protesters held signs saying, "No Vote, No Stadium."
There is some sanity left in Mo..

Easy to make promises but why would he commit political trust suicide by claiming such a thing? Everyone else involved has made it abundantly clear that no one knows what is going to happen yet. I believe there are many who actually do, it's just not official but I doubt Slay is one of them. And his views go against the tide.

Comparing the Rams to the Chiefs, the ownership particularly, was another shot across Kroenke's bow. We all get it. They are pissed because he called them on their bullshit as is taking advantage of a serious opportunity before it went away (LA). He has higher aspirations than playing in a declining region in the mid-west. He isn't engaging anyone,, only owners. His actions would put me off too if I were on the other side but those who are voicing their opinions might be better off being silent too. Their words might make the locals happier but Stan,, not so much.

Please Football Gods, put the Rams out of their Missouri.