![]() ![]() Since the dome was completed, in 1995, 18 other cities have used public money to pay for NFL stadiums, paying for an average of 56 percent of the building cost. What's most infuriating about this is that the reason the Rams were able to opt out of their lease - the relatively-new Edward Jones Dome no longer being a top-notch facility - is entirely due to the fact that other NFL teams have ripped off cities just as successfully. They don't open their books, but one NFL team (the publicly-owned Green Bay Packers) does, and they generally make between $25 and $50 million a year. To put all this in context: the Rams are a for-profit business, and a very profitable one. But the team demanded far more - in the range of $700 to $800 million - a sign that owner Stan Kroenke, who took control of the team in 2010, was probably never interested in staying past 2015.Ī rendering of the proposed Los Angeles stadium. Last year, to convince the team to stay, the city offered to spend as much as $124 million for more extensive renovations. Louis has tried to keep the dome up, spending another $30 million on upgrades in 2009. That's how we ended up where we are now - the city and state will continue to pay off the costs of building the dome (almost exclusively used for football) until 2021, when the team will probably be long gone for Los Angeles. The state and city will continue paying off the $720 million cost of the old dome until 2021īut the lease came with a particularly sweet clause for the Rams: starting in 2015, if the dome wasn't among the top quarter of NFL stadiums (in terms of "quality"), the team could opt out of its lease at any time. In exchange, the Rams agreed to lease the dome for $500,000 per year for 30 years. They've also committed to paying all upkeep costs for the facility in perpetuity. But repaying the loans taken out to pay for it will end up costing the state, county, and city an estimated $720 million. In order to lure them from Los Angeles in the first place, the state of Missouri spent $300 million to build the Edward Jones Dome. They've been doing it since before they arrived in 1995. This is not the first time the Rams have squeezed money out of Missouri and St. ![]() The Edward Jones dome, built for the Rams in 1995. Louis is better off letting the Rams head to Los Angeles. As long as it keeps happening, the same arguments stay relevant. But cities all over the country continue to give out absurd subsidies to pro sports teams, and get little in return. None of this is a particularly novel argument. Last, it would devour a large parcel of vacant land downtown, right on the Mississippi waterfront, to be used just ten times per year. It would take away millions away from public programs, and give them to a man worth an estimated $5.8 billion. The project would mean paying a huge subsidy to a very profitable business that provides minimal benefits to the public - at the same time the city continues to pay off the debt from building the old Rams stadium, completed in 1995. The site plan for the new stadium, just a few blocks away from the old one. The facts here are clear: building this stadium would be an absolutely terrible idea, even by the low standards of publicly-funded pro sports stadiums. If it's built, it will cost between $860 and $985 million, with half the money coming from public funds. ![]() Today, Missouri governor Jay Nixon is announcing a deal with a rail agency and utility company to move train tracks to accommodate the new stadium. Louis city and state officials countered with their own plan to build a 64,000-seat stadium downtown, to entice the Rams to stay. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke announced plans to build an 80,000-seat stadium in Los Angeles, presumably in order to move the team there - the city in which it played from 1946 to 1994. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |