Battle Lines Are Being Drawn Over Public Funding for New St. Louis Stadium

Any attempt to make an “end run” to avoid a public vote on the use of public money for a new 64,000-seat stadium near the St. Louis riverfront will be sacked, warns Fred Lindecke, spokesperson for the Coalition Against Public Funding for Stadiums. “Voters in St. Louis and St. Louis County approved measures that give them the final say before tax dollars can be spent on a new sports stadium,” Lindecke wrote in a statement (see attached). “Voters will be making the decision, rather than politicians.” This would include any proposed use of tax dollars headed to the Edward Jones Dome, according to the coalition.

Gov. Jay Nixon’s two-man task force, comprised of David Peacock and Bob Blitz, developed the stadium proposal that was presented last Friday at Union Station. They noted that the stadium could cost between $860 and $925 million; the plan asks for the St. Louis Rams to chip in up to $250 million. The balance would be paid with as much as $350 million by extending the $24 million in annual taxes from the city and county used on debt on the Edward Jones Dome. Another $130 million could be raised through personal seat licenses.

Jeanette Mott Oxford, a former state representative and organizer for the Coalition Against Public Funding for Stadiums, suggested any public money that might be dedicated to a new stadium would be better used elsewhere. “With all the problems we have, both in the St. Louis area and the state, hundreds of millions of dollars should not be spent on a football stadium,” she said. “I am confident voters would never support it and neither will legislators.”

City voters approved a measure in November 2002 to give residents a say on stadium spending; county voters did the same two years later. Both elections garnered more than 70 percent of the vote.

Last week, Rams owner Stan Kroenke announced his intentions to partner with Stockbridge Capital Group to build an 80,000-seat stadium in Inglewood, Calif., on the former site of the Hollywood Park thoroughbred horse racing track. While the partners announced that no public money would be used in that project, the Associated Press reported Sunday that the group is expecting to recoup up to $100 million in local tax dollars during the first five years the stadium is in operation. If annual tax revenues exceed $25 million annually, then the stadium proposal calls for Kroenke and Stockbridge to receive reimbursements for streets, sewers, parks, and other projects dedicated for use by the public.

As for the St. Louis stadium plan, the Rams released this statement: “The St. Louis Rams have worked for many years, with several agencies and commissions, and their senior management, responsible for stadium facilities in St. Louis. This includes multiple discussions with the Governor’s recently formed NFL Task Force. We received the Task Force materials shortly before the press conference. We will review them and speak with the Task Force representatives.”

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk shares his take on the stadium plan here, what the Rams said and “what it likely means.”

Several economists shared their thoughts with St. Louis Post-Dispatch business columnist David Nicklaus, including Webster University’s Patrick Rishe who said a Rams move to L.A. would have no financial impact on the region. “In terms of economic loss, most people who go to the games are local, so there isn’t any,” he said. “The biggest fear is a loss of visibility for your city.”

“There’s not a change in net spending of a magnitude to really matter to a large, diverse urban economy,” said Robert Baade, an economist at Lake Forest College in suburban Chicago.

Matthew Glans, a senior policy analyst at the Heartland Institute, noted, “Stadium subsidies are a poor use of taxpayer dollars. They rarely realize the benefits their supporters claim, and they shift tax revenue away from where it is better utilized.”