The co-chair of the task force in charge of putting together a stadium plan to keep the Rams in St. Louis appeared for the first time in front of Missouri state lawmakers on Monday, and as you can expect when taxpayers are being asked to foot the bill for 40 percent of a $1 billion dollar project, there was a healthy amount of tough questions.
“Why are we involved in this at all?” Rep. Tom Hurst asked Dave Peacock, the former Anheuser-Busch executive in charge of Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s stadium task force.
Peacock testified on Monday before of a house committee, and while he hoped to explain the benefits of the proposed riverfront stadium, he found quite a bit of skepticism as well.
Peacock is working against more than cynicism – understandable considering the sizable public contribution needed to finance the stadium – he is also working against the clock now that Rams owner Stan Kroenke has announced intentions to build a stadium on the old Hollywood Park race track site in Inglewood.
The Inglewood project is entitled and set to begin construction in December. Presumably it is to be the future home of the Rams, although Kroenke hasn’t yet declared his true end game.
Missouri and the NFL figure to have a significant say in his plans, one way or another. If the state follows through with a viable plan to help finance and build the new stadium, it’s hard to imagine the NFL approving a Rams relocation to Los Angeles.
If not, Kroenke can sail to Los Angeles.
There is also the possibility Kroenke goes rouge and moves his team with or without league approval, a subject that was broached Monday in Missouri.
To wit, if we build a stadium what guarantees do we have an NFL team will be in St. Louis to play in it?
Peacock told the committee the NFL has given strong indication – although no guarantees – that if a stadium is built, St. Louis will have a team.
“If you can demonstrate you’ve got the property or the land and a design that works, and they’re helping us with a design, you will, quote, control your own destiny as it relates to an NFL team,” Peacock said.
But he didn’t say whether that team would be the Rams.
“Now, as far as whether it’s keeping the Rams or a different club, we have not gone down that path,” Peacock said.
It’s tough enough asking the state of Missouri to pony up $500 millions for a new stadium – especially when Kroenke can obviously build his own stadium in Los Angeles.
But it’s quite another thing entirely to ask Missouri to pay for a stadium when no one is guaranteed to play there.
