St. Louis County drops plan to finance new Rams football stadium

St. Louis County drops plan to finance new Rams football stadium

Missouri governor Jay Nixon says that St. Louis County will not be asked to foot the bill of a proposed $985 million downtown riverfront stadium for the Rams.

A senior aide to Nixon told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that a call was made to county executive Steve Stenger to tell the office that "St. Louis County’s participation would not be necessary in the stadium deal."

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Stenger opposes using county tax dollars to support a new stadium without having the public vote for it.

Nixon announced in February an agreement with the Terminal Railroad Association and Ameren Missouri, an energy company, to move a railroad line and relocate power lines to clear room for the proposed 90-acre site for a stadium. His plan called for $450 million from the NFL and Rams ownership, plus up to $350 million from an extension of the existing bonds with funds from tax credits and seat licenses.

The Rams plan on moving to a year-to-year lease with the city of St. Louis because they haven’t reached a deal to help fund renovations for Edward Jones Dome. The 66,000-seat stadium is only 20 years old but is considered outdated, as 22 of the 32 teams currently play in stadiums that were built after 1995.​

Rams owner Stan Kroenke is moving forward with plans for a team in Los Angeles, after he bought 60 acres of land adjacent to the Forum and Hollywood Park in Inglewood last year and teamed up with Stockbridge Capital Group on plans to build a $1.86-billion, 80,000-seat NFL stadium. He hasn’t announced any plans to move the team.

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The owners of the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders have also announced plans to build a two-team stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson. NFL owners are expected to choose a winning stadium plan as soon as May.

Any team that plans to relocate must receive a three-fourths vote from the 32 NFL teams.

- Scooby Axson