Peacock ‘more confident than ever’ before vote
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Peacock ‘more confident than ever’ before vote
For the last eight months, Dave Peacock has lobbied NFL officials on the merits of St. Louis as a viable football town.
For the next month or so, he’ll turn his attention toward the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. Peacock said he plans to meet with or pitch members of the city’s Board of Aldermen in advance of a potential vote on whether the city will help pay for a new $1 billion riverfront stadium.
St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Thomas Frawley ruled in early August that a public vote was not needed for the city to spend an estimated $66 million in new St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority (RSA) bonds on a stadium.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay did not appeal the ruling, but said the St. Louis Board of Aldermen would have a say on financing.
Slay’s chief of staff, Mary Ellen Ponder, said aldermen could take up the issue at one of their September meetings.
Nine of the city’s 28 aldermen in May called for a public vote on the use of city tax dollars for a new stadium. If 15 aldermen voted against funding the stadium, the measure would fail.
“I didn’t think I’d live long enough to see a billion-dollar stadium built without any real money,” said Alderman Tom Villa on Aug. 25.
Peacock said any money the aldermen approve — similar to state tax credits recently approved — would be contingent on nearly $500 million committed to the project through a team owner and the NFL’s G4 loan program. Ideally, he said, that commitment would come before the city officially sells the bonds.
“Hopefully, we’ll be in a position where (aldermen) deem it a viable project,” Peacock said. “Basically, we’ll go to the Board of Aldermen and let that process take place. We’ll do whatever the process dictates, whether that’s share information they need or informing them.”
The current task force proposal and the RSA analysis assumes 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.
Peacock said he hopes to have the financing and land acquisition plans — all but one parcel of land on the actual stadium footprint are under option agreements with land owners — firmly in place by the time NFL owners meet in October, when the task force plans to present to league owners in New York City.
Following the Missouri Development Finance Board (MDFB) approval of $15 million in state tax credits — a number that should rise to $50 million over the next three years — to help fund the project, Peacock said he’s more confident than ever in the stadium’s prospects.
“Whether that’s through resolution of lawsuits or getting the vote from the MDFB or even just design development, all those milestones continue us down the path and make me more confident than I was when we started this in January,” he said.
Peacock ‘more confident than ever’ before vote
For the last eight months, Dave Peacock has lobbied NFL officials on the merits of St. Louis as a viable football town.
For the next month or so, he’ll turn his attention toward the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. Peacock said he plans to meet with or pitch members of the city’s Board of Aldermen in advance of a potential vote on whether the city will help pay for a new $1 billion riverfront stadium.
St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Thomas Frawley ruled in early August that a public vote was not needed for the city to spend an estimated $66 million in new St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority (RSA) bonds on a stadium.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay did not appeal the ruling, but said the St. Louis Board of Aldermen would have a say on financing.
Slay’s chief of staff, Mary Ellen Ponder, said aldermen could take up the issue at one of their September meetings.
Nine of the city’s 28 aldermen in May called for a public vote on the use of city tax dollars for a new stadium. If 15 aldermen voted against funding the stadium, the measure would fail.
“I didn’t think I’d live long enough to see a billion-dollar stadium built without any real money,” said Alderman Tom Villa on Aug. 25.
Peacock said any money the aldermen approve — similar to state tax credits recently approved — would be contingent on nearly $500 million committed to the project through a team owner and the NFL’s G4 loan program. Ideally, he said, that commitment would come before the city officially sells the bonds.
“Hopefully, we’ll be in a position where (aldermen) deem it a viable project,” Peacock said. “Basically, we’ll go to the Board of Aldermen and let that process take place. We’ll do whatever the process dictates, whether that’s share information they need or informing them.”
The current task force proposal and the RSA analysis assumes 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.
Peacock said he hopes to have the financing and land acquisition plans — all but one parcel of land on the actual stadium footprint are under option agreements with land owners — firmly in place by the time NFL owners meet in October, when the task force plans to present to league owners in New York City.
Following the Missouri Development Finance Board (MDFB) approval of $15 million in state tax credits — a number that should rise to $50 million over the next three years — to help fund the project, Peacock said he’s more confident than ever in the stadium’s prospects.
“Whether that’s through resolution of lawsuits or getting the vote from the MDFB or even just design development, all those milestones continue us down the path and make me more confident than I was when we started this in January,” he said.
