[Elvis]

Are we approaching acceptance?

http://www.stltoday.com/business/column ... 8db19.html

Nicklaus: Rams' broadside hurts because much of it is true

David Nicklaus

Nobody likes to be jilted, so the Rams’ harsh comments about their current hometown really stung St. Louisans this week.

Here’s the thing, though: Owner Stan Kroenke’s assertions about St. Louis wouldn’t hurt as much if so many of them, particularly about the health of the region’s economy, weren’t true.

To be sure, the football team is guilty of hyperbole when it says that “Compared to all other cities, St. Louis is struggling.” In fact, some NFL teams play in cities where the prospects for income and job growth are worse than in St. Louis. The Rams also cherry-pick city-specific data to make St. Louis look bad.

Their description of a lackluster regional economy, however, is broadly accurate. “Our outlook going forward isn’t particularly optimistic,” says Karl Kuykendall, a regional economist at IHS Global Insight. “For the last several decades St. Louis has lagged the U.S. in population growth and in economic growth.”

Kuykendall’s firm does an annual study, which the Rams cite, for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. In the latest version, published in June, we rank 252nd of 381 metro areas for projected economic growth between 2014 and 2021.

That happens to be better than five National Football League cities (Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Cleveland, Detroit and Buffalo), but it’s nothing to boast about. Income growth and population growth are important for a team — or any business — that wants to attract more customers and charge higher prices.

“The bottom line is that the St. Louis economy is growing, but it’s growing at a modest pace, certainly a slower pace than the nation,” says Kevin Kliesen, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. “It’s been that way for a while.”

Still, St. Louis does have some things going for it. We’re a top-20 metro in population, with above-average per capita income.

We have a vibrant entrepreneurial sector that’s been recognized by several national organizations. We have nine companies in the Fortune 500 and 19 in the Fortune 1000.

Kroenke mentions none of these in his broadside. He’s trying to get out of town, and willing to burn bridges along the way.

Howard Wall, an economist at Lindenwood University, says St. Louis looks like a lot of other Rust Belt cities. It has lost ground for decades to faster-growing places in the South and West, and it’s struggling to replace the manufacturing jobs that once drove the local economy.

So Kroenke’s economic analysis is broadly true, but the conclusion he reaches — that any team playing here faces “financial ruin” — is not.

“The untrue part is that St. Louis can’t support a team,” Wall says. “Other cities in similar situations can support three professional teams. This is really about whether he can make a lot more money in L.A.”

Of course it is. Kroenke could have been a gentleman and used the classic breakup line, “This isn’t about you; it’s about me.” Instead, he chose to publicize every negative statistic he could find about the city he wants to jilt.

When we get over our hurt feelings, maybe we should thank him. The St. Louis area can prosper with or without the Rams, but only if we confront our economic problems head-on.

It’s often easier to get people working together when they have a common enemy. “Let’s show Stan” can be our region’s rallying cry as we look for ways to get out of the slow-growth rut.

[Stranger]

Good Luck St Louis. I really enjoyed living in that city 30 yrs ago. Hope it can return to what it was.