http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/mayor-francis-slay-s-office-no-bidding-war-for-the/article_fae60f8f-9dd0-5c19-9028-b8d556375454.html



Faced with the strongest sign yet that Rams owner Stan Kroenke is preparing to pack up his team for Los Angeles, officials in Missouri and St. Louis are vowing to fight to keep it here — to a point.

“The mayor thinks we should . . . not get into a bidding war with Los Angeles,” Jeff Rainford, spokesman for St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, said Monday, in response to reports that Kroenke has closed an L.A. land deal that could be the first step toward moving the Rams back to southern California.

“A National Football League franchise does have value, and we should want one, but let’s use some common sense,” said Rainford. “The parameters are not a blank check.”

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who has created a two-person committee to come up with recommendations on how to keep the Rams, took a similar position.

“St. Louis is an NFL city and I am committed to keeping it that way,” Nixon said in a written statement. He said he expects to receive a plan by week’s end “that’s consistent with our principles of protecting taxpayers, creating jobs, and making significant use of private investment to clean up and revitalize underutilized areas.”

The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that Kroenke has partnered with Stockbridge Capital Group, owners of the 300-acre Hollywood Park site in Inglewood, in a plan to build an 80,000-seat NFL stadium and 6,000-seat performance venue there.

L.A. has been without an NFL team for 20 years, and this marks the first time during that period that an existing team owner has controlled a local site large enough for a stadium and parking, according to the Times.

It comes on the heels of what was already widespread speculation that Kroenke wants to move the team back there.

In November, Nixon appointed David Peacock, former president of Anheuser-Busch, and Robert Blitz, attorney for the Edward Jones Dome’s public board, to evaluate options and report back by the end of January. They said in a statement Monday that the report will be ready Friday.

“The news today is another reminder of how much competition there can be for National Football League franchises and projects that include NFL stadiums, but it does not change our timeline or approach,” Peacock and Blitz said in the joint statement. They called it “a long-term process . . . that the State of Missouri and the St. Louis region are fully pledged to seeing through.”

“We are ready to demonstrate our commitment to keeping the NFL here, and to continue to illustrate why St. Louis has been and will always be a strong NFL market,” said the statement. “We will present a plan to Governor Nixon this Friday as scheduled, and we expect that it will meet his criteria, thereby allowing us to share our vision with the public shortly thereafter.”

The plan they will present the governor is expected to feature a site on the Mississippi River north of the Gateway Arch and would be pitched as part of a major redevelopment of the area.

When Nixon assigned Peacock and Blitz to the task in early November, he called it “a matter of civic and state pride, and one of international significance.”

“We are prepared to look at serious options to make sure we stay an NFL city,” he said then.

But he also has made it clear he doesn’t intend to give away the store. In an interview in December with the Post-Dispatch, Nixon articulated six “core principles” he wants included in any proposal:

• That the project is sited in a blighted area.

• That it’s environmentally responsible.

• That the construction phase pays “competitive wages.”

• That it includes a plan for use of the current dome.

• That it’s operated as a public asset.

• And that there are no new or increased taxes.

Slay’s office also stressed those principles Monday. “We’re committed to keeping an NFL franchise in St. Louis because they have value,” Slay said in a written statement. “I am confident that Dave Peacock and Bob Blitz, working within the parameters created by Governor Nixon, can come up with a viable plan to do that.”

Rainford said the mere threat of a California land deal shouldn’t change either the content or timetable of Missouri’s expected proposal.

“The parameters the governor laid out were spot-on,” said Rainford. “It doesn’t make sense to take money away from other important needs or to raise taxes or raise fees.”

The NFL has said the earliest any team can move is 2016.

“No team has applied for relocation and there will be no team relocations for the 2015 season,” NFL Vice President Brian McCarthy said in a statement Monday. “We are committed to working towards having franchises that are strong and successful in their existing markets.”

The statement goes on to note that any decision on relocation in 2016 or later is subject to approval by a three-fourths vote, or 24, of the 32 NFL clubs.

The Rams declined to comment.

Inglewood Mayor James Butts Jr. said in a news conference Monday that he backs Kroenke’s plan, which he said may involve a public vote, potentially as soon as June.

“No tax dollars have been requested or will they be used if the project is approved,” Butts said. “This proposal, if approved, is another step along the way to potentially moving Inglewood from a city on the rise to a top-tier metropolis.”

Asked why Kroenke would enter into such a plan if he didn’t intend to move the Rams from St. Louis to Inglewood, Butts responded: “That’s a really good question to ask him.”

Like the Rams, the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers have signaled they are unhappy in old stadiums that don’t offer updated amenities.

Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest media market, has been a coveted potential goal for various NFL owners and would-be owners since 1994, when the city lost both the Rams and the Raiders.

The Rams’ lease at the Edward Jones Dome requires regular publicly financed improvements to keep it in the “first tier” among NFL stadiums. Two years ago, the Rams asked for $700 million in upgrades, including a retractable roof and a glass-walled eastern entrance.

Regional leaders declined — which means Rams can get out of their 30-year lease and start going year-to-year starting later this month.