EARTH CITY, Mo. -- Just like with any project the size and scope of the St. Louis stadium proposal, the biggest key to turning it from pretty picture to reality is in the money.
There has been plenty of speculation about how the city, state and/or county plans to pay for the proposed stadium on the city's north riverfront but details haven't been made completely clear aside from an original outline and a promise to have it in place by the fall. And that, of course, only refers to the public side of the financing, not what it asks of St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke.
Perhaps the situation gained a little more clarity Tuesday when stadium task force leader Dave Peacock spoke at a Commercial Real Estate Women of St. Louis breakfast. The St. Louis Business Journal attended the breakfast and relayed some intriguing comments from Peacock.
According to the Journal, Peacock said the original plan to extend $300 million worth of bonds on the current Edward Jones Dome to the new proposal has been modified a bit. The plan now calls for state bonds to contribute $250 million with the difference made up for in the form of Brownfield and Missouri Development Finance Board tax credits, which apparently would increase from an anticipated amount of $55 million up to $150 million.
Even assuming that part gets done, the plan still calls for about $450 million of private investment with $200 million coming from the NFL's G4 loan. There's not guarantee even if the public part gets put in place that Kroenke would be willing to pay the freight. In fact, there's been no evidence to this point that such a scenario would be amenable for Kroenke.
Which is why the final quote from Peacock in the story might be the most telling of all:
“It’s possible we have different ownership of the [Rams] because I think [Kroenke] is really committed to Los Angeles,” Peacock told the Journal. “I’m not against Stan going to Los Angeles, I just don’t want our team there... This is why we’re spending most of our time with the league -- we think this is an NFL issue.”
I.C.Y.M.I.
A roundup of Tuesday's Rams stories appearing on ESPN.com. ... In the Ram-blings, we opened with a look at the idea of specialization in sports and NFL athletes. ... Fourth-round offensive lineman Andrew Donnal now has a chance to escape the shadow of Brandon Scherff. ... The Rams were among 14 teams to receive money from the Department of Defense for advertising and marketing, according the U.S. spending website. ... Football Outsiders doesn't think much of the Rams' chances for improvement in 2015.
Elsewhere:
You can guess what the primary topic of discussion was on this week's edition of NFL Nation TV.
On ESPN Insider, here's the full breakdown of season projections from Football Outsiders.
ESPN news services provides a look at the profit the Chargers turned at Qualcomm Stadium in 2014.
At 101sports.com, the Fast Lane discusses whether Rams running back Todd Gurley will be the best back in the division by 2016.
At stltoday.com, Joe Lyons chronicles the journey of defensive end Martin Ifedi to the Rams.
