Bernie: NFL meets with St. Louis stadium task force
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http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/ ... 892c7.html
Bernie: NFL meets with St. Louis stadium task force
National Football League executive vice president Eric Grubman was in St. Louis Thursday for a meeting that included Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, stadium task force leaders Dave Peacock and Bob Blitz and Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff.
In a four-hour session held at the Four Seasons hotel, Grubman and three other representatives from the NFL received a comprehensive update on the status of the proposed $998 million stadium planned for the city's north riverfront.
The points of emphasis included stadium financing, an updated stadium design, and land acquisition. The discussion also entailed the preliminary outline of a prospective lease agreement that would be presented to the Rams or another NFL team.
"We continue to make progress," Peacock told the Post-Dispatch. "And it was a good update. We covered a lot of important ground, and we'll continue meeting with the NFL."
Nixon, Peacock and Blitz were accompanied by a team of advisers from Goldman Sachs, which is assisting on the stadium financing, and representatives from HOK, the St. Louis-based architecture firm that's designing the stadium.
Rams owner Stan Kroenke is planning to build a new stadium in Inglewood, near Los Angeles. The Rams are free to terminate their lease agreement at the Edward Jones Dome after the 2015 season, and it is widely assumed Kroenke will apply for relocation to move his team to Los Angeles for the 2016 season.
Kroenke faces competition in the LA market from the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders, who have partnered on a proposed stadium in Carson, an LA suburb. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has said the league will choose between the two stadium projects, selecting only one.
It's expected that the NFL will begin accepting relocation applications this fall, and the league owners could vote on the transfer requests early next year.
The St. Louis task force is racing against the clock to complete the funding and land procurement to secure an actionable stadium plan. If St. Louis hopes to receive the NFL's backing, a new stadium is mandatory.
A successful stadium effort could prevent the Rams from moving to Los Angeles. If the stadium plan unravels, Kroenke would have a much greater chance of convincing the NFL to approve a Rams move to Los Angeles.
Grubman and Goodell continue to encourage the St. Louis task force to keep working to finalize the project.
When asked about Grubman's reaction to Thursday's update, Peacock said:
"I think the NFL delegation was very pleased with the progress being made on the stadium. The feedback was positive. But we still have work to do, and we know that."
Obstacles remain.
In April the public board that runs the Edward Jones Dome filed suit against the city of St. Louis, contending that a 2002 city ordinance requiring a public vote prior to spending tax money on a new stadium is "overly broad, vague and ambiguous."
Stadium organizers are counting on the city’s portion of the stadium funding, which would be covered by an existing hotel-motel tax.
Arguments were heard by Circuit Court Judge Thomas Frawley on June 25, and a ruling is expected soon.
If Frawley rules that city residents must vote to approve use of hotel-motel taxes before the money could be used for the stadium, the task force would have to pivot quickly and hustle to bring the measure to a ballot.
A delay could put the project — and the city's NFL future — in jeopardy.
While there's no official deadline, NFL owners have scheduled an Aug. 11 meeting in Chicago to have an extensive discussion about the Los Angeles situation. So the timing is critical.
Peacock said the sooner he can present a secure funding commitment to the NFL, the more it will strengthen the city's chances of retaining the Rams and staying in the NFL. But a lengthy delay could doom the effort to keep the Rams/NFL in St. Louis.
Peacock added that the funding doesn't have to be in place by the Aug. 11 meeting, but he believes it's important for the task force to maintain the NFL's confidence in the viability of the St. Louis project.
A setback on the city's share of the funding could raise doubts among NFL executives and owners, which in turn could sway a relocation vote in Kroenke's favor.
To pay for the stadium the task force is counting on at least $250 million from the state and city, not including tax incentives and seat license fees.
Meanwhile, a second suit remains unresolved. Six state legislators sued Nixon in an attempt to prevent the governor from covering part of the cost for a new stadium by extending the bonds used to build the Edward Jones Dome. Nixon remains confident that his authority to extend the bonds will be reaffirmed in the upcoming ruling in Cole County.
Peacock said the NFL hasn't expressed any alarm over the ongoing legal disputes. Legal challenges to the use of public money to pay for stadiums is hardly new to the NFL. Unless the rulings go against Nixon and the task force, there isn't much to discuss.
"We updated Grubman on the status of the lawsuits," Peacock said. "It was part of the overall update. We discussed it and moved onto other areas."
Asked if he remained confident of a successful stadium resolution and the St. Louis campaign to keep the Rams or stay in the NFL, Peacock didn't hesitate.
"I really do," he said. "This was a good meeting, and the NFL is satisfied with what we've done to reach this stage. But we've got to keep going until everything is done. And we're committed to getting it done."
— Bernie Miklasz
Bernie: NFL meets with St. Louis stadium task force
National Football League executive vice president Eric Grubman was in St. Louis Thursday for a meeting that included Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, stadium task force leaders Dave Peacock and Bob Blitz and Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff.
In a four-hour session held at the Four Seasons hotel, Grubman and three other representatives from the NFL received a comprehensive update on the status of the proposed $998 million stadium planned for the city's north riverfront.
The points of emphasis included stadium financing, an updated stadium design, and land acquisition. The discussion also entailed the preliminary outline of a prospective lease agreement that would be presented to the Rams or another NFL team.
"We continue to make progress," Peacock told the Post-Dispatch. "And it was a good update. We covered a lot of important ground, and we'll continue meeting with the NFL."
Nixon, Peacock and Blitz were accompanied by a team of advisers from Goldman Sachs, which is assisting on the stadium financing, and representatives from HOK, the St. Louis-based architecture firm that's designing the stadium.
Rams owner Stan Kroenke is planning to build a new stadium in Inglewood, near Los Angeles. The Rams are free to terminate their lease agreement at the Edward Jones Dome after the 2015 season, and it is widely assumed Kroenke will apply for relocation to move his team to Los Angeles for the 2016 season.
Kroenke faces competition in the LA market from the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders, who have partnered on a proposed stadium in Carson, an LA suburb. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has said the league will choose between the two stadium projects, selecting only one.
It's expected that the NFL will begin accepting relocation applications this fall, and the league owners could vote on the transfer requests early next year.
The St. Louis task force is racing against the clock to complete the funding and land procurement to secure an actionable stadium plan. If St. Louis hopes to receive the NFL's backing, a new stadium is mandatory.
A successful stadium effort could prevent the Rams from moving to Los Angeles. If the stadium plan unravels, Kroenke would have a much greater chance of convincing the NFL to approve a Rams move to Los Angeles.
Grubman and Goodell continue to encourage the St. Louis task force to keep working to finalize the project.
When asked about Grubman's reaction to Thursday's update, Peacock said:
"I think the NFL delegation was very pleased with the progress being made on the stadium. The feedback was positive. But we still have work to do, and we know that."
Obstacles remain.
In April the public board that runs the Edward Jones Dome filed suit against the city of St. Louis, contending that a 2002 city ordinance requiring a public vote prior to spending tax money on a new stadium is "overly broad, vague and ambiguous."
Stadium organizers are counting on the city’s portion of the stadium funding, which would be covered by an existing hotel-motel tax.
Arguments were heard by Circuit Court Judge Thomas Frawley on June 25, and a ruling is expected soon.
If Frawley rules that city residents must vote to approve use of hotel-motel taxes before the money could be used for the stadium, the task force would have to pivot quickly and hustle to bring the measure to a ballot.
A delay could put the project — and the city's NFL future — in jeopardy.
While there's no official deadline, NFL owners have scheduled an Aug. 11 meeting in Chicago to have an extensive discussion about the Los Angeles situation. So the timing is critical.
Peacock said the sooner he can present a secure funding commitment to the NFL, the more it will strengthen the city's chances of retaining the Rams and staying in the NFL. But a lengthy delay could doom the effort to keep the Rams/NFL in St. Louis.
Peacock added that the funding doesn't have to be in place by the Aug. 11 meeting, but he believes it's important for the task force to maintain the NFL's confidence in the viability of the St. Louis project.
A setback on the city's share of the funding could raise doubts among NFL executives and owners, which in turn could sway a relocation vote in Kroenke's favor.
To pay for the stadium the task force is counting on at least $250 million from the state and city, not including tax incentives and seat license fees.
Meanwhile, a second suit remains unresolved. Six state legislators sued Nixon in an attempt to prevent the governor from covering part of the cost for a new stadium by extending the bonds used to build the Edward Jones Dome. Nixon remains confident that his authority to extend the bonds will be reaffirmed in the upcoming ruling in Cole County.
Peacock said the NFL hasn't expressed any alarm over the ongoing legal disputes. Legal challenges to the use of public money to pay for stadiums is hardly new to the NFL. Unless the rulings go against Nixon and the task force, there isn't much to discuss.
"We updated Grubman on the status of the lawsuits," Peacock said. "It was part of the overall update. We discussed it and moved onto other areas."
Asked if he remained confident of a successful stadium resolution and the St. Louis campaign to keep the Rams or stay in the NFL, Peacock didn't hesitate.
"I really do," he said. "This was a good meeting, and the NFL is satisfied with what we've done to reach this stage. But we've got to keep going until everything is done. And we're committed to getting it done."
— Bernie Miklasz