All Bark no Bite
PostPosted:9 years 6 months ago
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt ... b708b.html
ST. LOUIS • St. Louis has submitted to the National Football League its formal proposal to build a $1.1 billion open-air stadium on the Mississippi riverfront.
Gov. Jay Nixon's task force overnight-mailed the thick package late Monday.
The proposal spanned nearly 400 pages, planners said, and included a financial term sheet, the recently adopted St. Louis city ordinance and financing plan, detailed descriptions of the state tax credits to be used, plus architectural designs, support letters, market information and a land acquisition update.
Task force co-chairmen Dave Peacock and Bob Blitz addressed the package to the six team owners who sit on the NFL's Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities, with copies to Commissioner Roger Goodell, St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, Rams team executives, and the rest of the NFL owners.
Kroenke wants to move the Rams to Los Angeles, and has proposed a nearly $2 billion stadium in Inglewood, Calif.
San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis have presented a competing plan for a two-team stadium in Carson, just down the freeway from Kroenke's site.
NFL owners are meeting Jan. 12 and 13 to continue discussing the relocation of at least one of the teams. Several owners have said they hope, after a year of deliberation, to vote on the issue.
The NFL has given local governments in the three cities until Wednesday to submit their own proposals for new stadium construction, in hopes of keeping their teams.
"This is a very challenging task in front of them," Peacock said of the owners. "I don't know what they'll do. We put our best, most comprehensive plan together."
St. Louis has the most definitive plan of the three cities. San Diego's leans on a public vote next summmer. Oakland officials have presented market strengths to the NFL, but have not produced a formal stadium proposal.
Still, St. Louis's plan isn't universally accepted among NFL owners and executives.
Vice President Eric Grubman has publicly questioned the amount of tax money involved — local planners count it at more than $400 million, while Grubman figured it closer to $300 million.
Moreover, the St. Louis proposal recently added an extra $100 million from the NFL itself — an unprecedented request, on top of the previously discussed $200 million NFL loan and $250 million owner investment.
Furthermore, it's unclear if a viable stadium construction plan here would be enough to keep the Rams. Some owners have suggested it would.
But others have said that the No. 1 priority is a successful Los Angeles proposal.
All sides acknowledge the difficulty of the task.
"If you want to pick between two projects in LA, that's challenging," Peacock said. "Then if you throw in one home-market variable, it makes it more challenging.
"I'm glad I'm not an owner," Peacock said Tuesday, chuckling.
ST. LOUIS • St. Louis has submitted to the National Football League its formal proposal to build a $1.1 billion open-air stadium on the Mississippi riverfront.
Gov. Jay Nixon's task force overnight-mailed the thick package late Monday.
The proposal spanned nearly 400 pages, planners said, and included a financial term sheet, the recently adopted St. Louis city ordinance and financing plan, detailed descriptions of the state tax credits to be used, plus architectural designs, support letters, market information and a land acquisition update.
Task force co-chairmen Dave Peacock and Bob Blitz addressed the package to the six team owners who sit on the NFL's Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities, with copies to Commissioner Roger Goodell, St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, Rams team executives, and the rest of the NFL owners.
Kroenke wants to move the Rams to Los Angeles, and has proposed a nearly $2 billion stadium in Inglewood, Calif.
San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis have presented a competing plan for a two-team stadium in Carson, just down the freeway from Kroenke's site.
NFL owners are meeting Jan. 12 and 13 to continue discussing the relocation of at least one of the teams. Several owners have said they hope, after a year of deliberation, to vote on the issue.
The NFL has given local governments in the three cities until Wednesday to submit their own proposals for new stadium construction, in hopes of keeping their teams.
"This is a very challenging task in front of them," Peacock said of the owners. "I don't know what they'll do. We put our best, most comprehensive plan together."
St. Louis has the most definitive plan of the three cities. San Diego's leans on a public vote next summmer. Oakland officials have presented market strengths to the NFL, but have not produced a formal stadium proposal.
Still, St. Louis's plan isn't universally accepted among NFL owners and executives.
Vice President Eric Grubman has publicly questioned the amount of tax money involved — local planners count it at more than $400 million, while Grubman figured it closer to $300 million.
Moreover, the St. Louis proposal recently added an extra $100 million from the NFL itself — an unprecedented request, on top of the previously discussed $200 million NFL loan and $250 million owner investment.
Furthermore, it's unclear if a viable stadium construction plan here would be enough to keep the Rams. Some owners have suggested it would.
But others have said that the No. 1 priority is a successful Los Angeles proposal.
All sides acknowledge the difficulty of the task.
"If you want to pick between two projects in LA, that's challenging," Peacock said. "Then if you throw in one home-market variable, it makes it more challenging.
"I'm glad I'm not an owner," Peacock said Tuesday, chuckling.