Rams Fans United - Los Angeles Rams Fan Discussion Forum

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news ... ml?ana=twt

Tax credit application reveals new details on stadium financing plan

The St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority (RSA) next week will formally ask the state of Missouri to pony up $50 million in state tax credits to help build a $998 million NFL stadium in St. Louis.

It’s an expected step, but the RSA’s proposal to the Missouri Development Finance Board (MDFB) provides new details about the stadium proposal.
According to the application, total construction of the stadium would cost $820 million, with land acquisition adding another $60 million to the plan — about 80 percent of the land on the proposed 88-acre site is under option agreements to be acquired. Another $118 million would be spent on soft costs such as design, professional fees and miscellaneous costs. The whole project, then, would cost $998 million.

The most up-to-date financing plan calls for $135 million from new RSA bond proceeds from the state and $66 million in new RSA bond proceeds from the city of St. Louis. Lawsuits are challenging the city’s and state’s ability to pursue that financing without a public vote.

The combined $201 million would be paired with $200 million from the NFL’s G4 loan program; $250 million from an NFL team owner; $187 million in tax credits, MDFB contributions and other state or city incentives; and about $160 million in seat licensing sales, a figure lower than an NFL market study indicated St. Louis could provide.

The financing structure has, as expected, changed over time.

When Gov. Jay Nixon’s task force — led by Dave Peacock and Bob Blitz — initially introduced stadium plans in January, the financing plan included $300 million to $350 million in bond proceeds; MDFB support in the neighborhood of $20 million; with other tax credits such as Brownfield tax credits contributing as much as $30 million.

The current task force proposal and the RSA analysis assumed the city of St. Louis would make lease payments of $5 million each year through 2023, $5.5 million in 2024, and $6 million annually through 2051.

The RSA analysis also said the total estimated direct city net revenue from a stadium complex and related football activities totals more than $115.7 million over 35 years. The St. Louis Rams generate less yearly tax revenue in the city of St. Louis than what the municipality currently pays annually on bonds used to build the convention center, though proponents of a new stadium say a Major League Soccer team and concerts at the stadium would also generate city taxes. A 3.5 percent hotel tax is not covering current bond payments on the convention center debt, and a 1 percent restaurant tax and others are used to help make the payments.

Peacock said the RSA’s pitch to the state is a formality, but an important part of the process. Peacock met with NFL officials, including NFL Executive Vice President Eric Grubman, on Thursday at the Four Seasons Hotel, a favorite meeting place for task force officials dating back to early 2014. Rams Chief Operating Officer Kevin Demoff was also part of that meeting, Peacock said.

The RSA will present its plan at the MDFB’s July 21 meeting in Jefferson City.

Interesting lease payments of 35 years of around $ 200 million with only $ 115.7 in revenues to St Louis. That's another 2.5 million per year shortfall.

Is this accurate? If so it's starting to look less and less likely STL will pull this one off

Hacksaw wrote:Is this accurate? If so it's starting to look less and less likely STL will pull this one off

"The current task force proposal and the RSA analysis assumed the city of St. Louis would make lease payments of $5 million each year through 2023, $5.5 million in 2024, and $6 million annually through 2051.

The RSA analysis also said the total estimated direct city net revenue from a stadium complex and related football activities totals more than $115.7 million over 35 years."

I used the numbers from the article. I rounded down it's like $ 205.5 million.

Judge Frawley still hasn't come down with a ruling on the first lawsuit. then there is still the second lawsuit concerning the bonds. Time is running out,
Aug.11 is just weeks away.


And then there was the dislysic agnostic with insomnia. He was up all night contemplating the meaning of "Dog".

Not sure how forgiving the judge will be for Blitz's team misstating the numbers. From my experience in family courts, the numbers need to be perfect.

Now is the time for the Rams to have Frawley's ear. But agreed Ripper, the judge has to look at the books and see some scorching on the cover.

I'm sort of a Neil deMause follower. He's put a ton of work in the past couple of decades on the stadium building/funding game. Here's a take on the tax credits thing:

Missouri proposes $50m Rube Goldberg funding scheme for Rams so no one notices it’s spending $50m
http://www.fieldofschemes.com/2015/07/2 ... /#comments

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Neil deMause

The state-run St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority is set to ask for $50 million in state tax credits for a new St. Louis Rams stadium tomorrow, something that isn’t entirely a surprise, given that this has always been part of Gov. Jay Nixon’s stadium funding plan. Way down at the bottom of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, though, there’s a tidbit that’s worth exploring further:

Under one option to be presented to the finance board, the Dome authority would donate $100 million raised for the project to a nonprofit entity, which would then contribute $100 million to the board’s Infrastructure Development Fund.

In return for this contribution, the board would issue $50 million in tax credits to the nonprofit, which in turn would sell the credits and donate the proceeds to the Dome authority. The application says it expects to get about 95 cents on the dollar for those tax credits.

That’s a whole lot of paper-shuffling, but the interesting bit is at the end, where the state would be issuing $50 million in tax credits, but the Dome authority would only be getting $47.5 million in proceeds. That’s not a huge difference, but $2.5 million is $2.5 million, which raises the question: Why not just have the state give $50 million to the project directly, instead of mucking around with funneling money through tax credits and nonprofits?

I’m guessing here (Missouri locals and/or public finance experts, correct me if I’m wrong), but my assumption is that it’s so the headlines read “Dome authority to ask for $50 million in state tax credits” and not “Nixon proposes giving $50 million more to Rams.” It comes to the exact same thing, but for whatever reason some people think of tax expenditures as different from public spending, so apparently it’s worth $2.5 million to keep up this charade.

I will be surprised if this doesn't all come out in the wash. Seems like the only other consideration besides diversion would be some tax loophole. Out of my realm of expertise there.

So TDFH, one of the original blues songs my group does is titled "I'm A Million Miles From Heaven, but just a couple of steps from hell". Can you dig it?

Ahh, the closest I got to the blues was being real awful in my school jazz band. I get the bluesy mood once in a blue moon, so I can dig it a bit, but not really DIG it, if you know what I mean. sorry.