11/23/24
February 03, 2016
With NFL Rams gone, St. Louis still stuck with stadium debt: In St. Louis, the $280 million agreement to build the Edward Jones Dome for the Rams raised eyebrows since its opening in 1995. Unlike other stadium deals, the St. Louis contract included a clause requiring the 67,000-seat dome be maintained to a first-tier standard, meaning the facility must be considered among the top quarter of all NFL football facilities. ... "This was a contract designed to be broken" by the team, said Matheson, who studies stadium finances. "They had a terrible, terrible contract with the Rams."
The NFL is loathsome.
It would be nice if Congress passed a federal law that forbid a single dollar of public financing being spent on privately owned sports stadiums. As long as leagues can pit one city against another they will be able to feast on the public trough for millions while genuine civic needs go unmet.
posted by rcade at 03:49 PM on February 03, 2016
I saw this come up in heated online comments attached to stories on the Rams departure made by St. Louis readers who were angry and wanted no part of a new stadium deal.
Some St. Louisians focused on their feeling of having been betrayed by Kroenke; others looked at the bigger picture and saw that the city was screwed whether he stayed or left.
I'm hoping this episode will be a tipping point of some sort in the saga of county and municipal stadium fleecing schemes.