A city of St. Louis committee has OK’d a financing plan for a new $1 billion stadium, as Jim Salter of the The Associated Press writes. A final vote on the matter from the city will take place next week, in advance of a Dec. 30 deadline imposed by the NFL for the three cities whose teams want to move to Los Angeles.
However, in an interview on WXOS, NFL Executive VP Eric Grubman opined the city “will fall short of having a compelling proposal that would attract the Rams.” Grubman also said the proposed stadium will “cost more than is at the drawing board at the moment, the funding has declined and new taxes are being proposed to the Rams.” For his part, St. Louis stadium task force co-chairman Dave Peacock is surprised by Grubman’s comments, as Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal tweets. Peacock feels that the 7-2 vote is a “significant milestone” in the city’s effort to retain the Rams and he dismissed Grubman’s comments as a negotiating tactic.
The St. Louis proposal calls for the city to contribute $150MM while the NFL team would kick in $250MM. On top of that, the league would give the team a $200MM loan and fan seat licenses would generate $160MM. The rest of the funding would come from the state, either through tax credits or bonds. Peacock has said in the past that while the new stadium is being built to try and keep the Rams in St. Louis, the city could alternatively use the stadium to try to bring another franchise to Missouri.
Grubman is in SK back pocket, He DOESN’T want ST. Louis to build the stadium. I think NFL is surprised that ST.Louis is coming through and NOW they know they are going to have to tell SK and the Rams to stay.