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'First tier' is far from clear in Dome lease
ST. LOUIS • The St. Louis Rams' future here could be in question because of two words that many fans don't usually associate with the Edward Jones Dome: first tier.
Those words give the Rams a door to walk away from the team's lease at the Dome — the building has to be a "first-tier" stadium by 2015, or among the top 25 percent of National Football League venues.
The lease itself, however, doesn't offer much clarity on what constitutes first tier. It identifies several components that need to meet that bar, but also includes vague factors, such as "the physical structure of the facilities."
Another says simply 'stadium seating."
The lease includes enough broad language that negotiators could argue just about every inch of the Dome is subject to the standard.
Winning over Rams owner Stan Kroenke could involve millions in publicly funded improvements. The key may be not necessarily to offer enough to make the Dome one of football's first-tier shrines, but perhaps enough to get the Rams to look the other way or renegotiate the agreement.
The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, which manages the Dome, has a week left to present the Rams with a plan for revamping the stadium.
The Dome must be deemed first tier in each of 15 categories, though the lease doesn't spell exactly what would make each of those areas first tier. The categories include:
• Fan amenities, such as box suites, club seats, lounges and any other public areas, including elevators and escalators.
• Technical areas, such as scoreboards, lighting, sound, computer and emergency systems, as well "advertising infrastructure in, on and around the facilities."
• Revenue-generating facilities, such as food-preparation areas, shops, concession stalls and box offices.
• Behind-the-scenes areas related to the team, such as locker rooms, coaches' offices and training facilities.
If there's any good news in the lease for the CVC, it's that the number of seats and luxury boxes are excluded from first-tier consideration. About 66,000 fans can now attend football games at the Dome, which boasts 120 luxury suites and 6,400 club seats. Those numbers aren't required to change.
Patrick Rishe, a sports economist at Webster University, said while the CVC might be able to satisfy some portions of the first-tier requirement, "I doubt very seriously that, without significant investment of let's say $200 to $300 million at least, the Edward Jones Dome could qualify overall."
When they agreed to the terms of the lease in the 1990s, civic leaders eager to bring a football team to St. Louis were acting out of a sense of urgency, recalled Freeman Bosley Jr., who was mayor at the time.
"We weren't negotiating from a position of strength," he said.
In 1994, after losing out on securing expansion teams to Charlotte and Jacksonville, St. Louis made a play to land the Rams, who were flirting with a move to Baltimore. Construction of what is now called the Edward Jones Dome was already under way.
During negotiations with St. Louis leaders, the Rams proposed the first-tier language.
Bosley said officials discussed whether the clause was potentially problematic but decided it wasn't.
They believed Georgia Frontiere, the Rams owner at the time, and John Shaw, the team president, were committed to keeping the team in St. Louis.
"It was always understood that the Rams would meet us halfway," Bosley said. "But that's when we were dealing with Georgia Frontiere and John Shaw."
Shaw, who stepped down as Rams president in 2008, was a brilliant negotiator and the person most responsible for the team's generous lease terms, said Jim Nagourney, a former pro sports executive who worked as a consultant for the Rams during the relocation negotiations.
Shaw "knew he was holding all the cards," said Nagourney, who is now retired. "The city wanted a team, and it was going to agree to anything … They just said yes to so many things."
Shaw did not respond to messages seeking comment.
The Dome was largely financed with $256 million in revenue bonds, and the repayment of that 30-year debt will be $720 million. Every year, Missouri spends $12 million to pay off the debt, and St. Louis and St. Louis County each pay $6 million annually. The county's portion is funded through a 3.5 percent hotel tax approved by voters in 1990.
The lease calls for the Rams to stay at the Dome through 2025 — but only if the stadium is first tier at two points: 2005 and 2015. The Rams waived the requirement the first time in exchange for $30 million in improvements. This time, there are a series of deadlines in 2012, starting with the CVC's mandate to deliver a plan by Feb. 1.
The Rams could counteroffer and would have until May 1 to do so. The two sides would go into arbitration if a deal isn't struck. Ultimately, if a deal is not reached, the Rams would be free to relocate after March 1, 2015.
Considering the state of the economy — and the fact that the original construction debt still hasn't been paid off — publicly funded improvements to the Dome could be a tough sell.
An even bigger challenge might be finding ways to modernize the Dome, at least by the latest NFL standards. The newest, glitziest stadiums have broken the billion-dollar mark and feature amenities the Dome would be hard-pressed to match.
Cowboys Stadium in Texas, for example, features high-tech gadgets, such as child-tracking wristbands and a giant, center-hung HD screen. Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis features a retractable roof and two 97-by-53-foot screens. The $1.6 billion MetLife Stadium in New York is billed as "piece of architectural history" on its website and includes giant HD video display boards in each corner of the building and a "ribbon" scoreboard that circles the interior bowl.
Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...70f-52a9-8719-47f91c809678.html#ixzz1kVBq3xQD
The best thing I saw in this article was the "good news" they do not have to worry about adding or removing seats, but it will be a process.
ST. LOUIS • The St. Louis Rams' future here could be in question because of two words that many fans don't usually associate with the Edward Jones Dome: first tier.
Those words give the Rams a door to walk away from the team's lease at the Dome — the building has to be a "first-tier" stadium by 2015, or among the top 25 percent of National Football League venues.
The lease itself, however, doesn't offer much clarity on what constitutes first tier. It identifies several components that need to meet that bar, but also includes vague factors, such as "the physical structure of the facilities."
Another says simply 'stadium seating."
The lease includes enough broad language that negotiators could argue just about every inch of the Dome is subject to the standard.
Winning over Rams owner Stan Kroenke could involve millions in publicly funded improvements. The key may be not necessarily to offer enough to make the Dome one of football's first-tier shrines, but perhaps enough to get the Rams to look the other way or renegotiate the agreement.
The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, which manages the Dome, has a week left to present the Rams with a plan for revamping the stadium.
The Dome must be deemed first tier in each of 15 categories, though the lease doesn't spell exactly what would make each of those areas first tier. The categories include:
• Fan amenities, such as box suites, club seats, lounges and any other public areas, including elevators and escalators.
• Technical areas, such as scoreboards, lighting, sound, computer and emergency systems, as well "advertising infrastructure in, on and around the facilities."
• Revenue-generating facilities, such as food-preparation areas, shops, concession stalls and box offices.
• Behind-the-scenes areas related to the team, such as locker rooms, coaches' offices and training facilities.
If there's any good news in the lease for the CVC, it's that the number of seats and luxury boxes are excluded from first-tier consideration. About 66,000 fans can now attend football games at the Dome, which boasts 120 luxury suites and 6,400 club seats. Those numbers aren't required to change.
Patrick Rishe, a sports economist at Webster University, said while the CVC might be able to satisfy some portions of the first-tier requirement, "I doubt very seriously that, without significant investment of let's say $200 to $300 million at least, the Edward Jones Dome could qualify overall."
When they agreed to the terms of the lease in the 1990s, civic leaders eager to bring a football team to St. Louis were acting out of a sense of urgency, recalled Freeman Bosley Jr., who was mayor at the time.
"We weren't negotiating from a position of strength," he said.
In 1994, after losing out on securing expansion teams to Charlotte and Jacksonville, St. Louis made a play to land the Rams, who were flirting with a move to Baltimore. Construction of what is now called the Edward Jones Dome was already under way.
During negotiations with St. Louis leaders, the Rams proposed the first-tier language.
Bosley said officials discussed whether the clause was potentially problematic but decided it wasn't.
They believed Georgia Frontiere, the Rams owner at the time, and John Shaw, the team president, were committed to keeping the team in St. Louis.
"It was always understood that the Rams would meet us halfway," Bosley said. "But that's when we were dealing with Georgia Frontiere and John Shaw."
Shaw, who stepped down as Rams president in 2008, was a brilliant negotiator and the person most responsible for the team's generous lease terms, said Jim Nagourney, a former pro sports executive who worked as a consultant for the Rams during the relocation negotiations.
Shaw "knew he was holding all the cards," said Nagourney, who is now retired. "The city wanted a team, and it was going to agree to anything … They just said yes to so many things."
Shaw did not respond to messages seeking comment.
The Dome was largely financed with $256 million in revenue bonds, and the repayment of that 30-year debt will be $720 million. Every year, Missouri spends $12 million to pay off the debt, and St. Louis and St. Louis County each pay $6 million annually. The county's portion is funded through a 3.5 percent hotel tax approved by voters in 1990.
The lease calls for the Rams to stay at the Dome through 2025 — but only if the stadium is first tier at two points: 2005 and 2015. The Rams waived the requirement the first time in exchange for $30 million in improvements. This time, there are a series of deadlines in 2012, starting with the CVC's mandate to deliver a plan by Feb. 1.
The Rams could counteroffer and would have until May 1 to do so. The two sides would go into arbitration if a deal isn't struck. Ultimately, if a deal is not reached, the Rams would be free to relocate after March 1, 2015.
Considering the state of the economy — and the fact that the original construction debt still hasn't been paid off — publicly funded improvements to the Dome could be a tough sell.
An even bigger challenge might be finding ways to modernize the Dome, at least by the latest NFL standards. The newest, glitziest stadiums have broken the billion-dollar mark and feature amenities the Dome would be hard-pressed to match.
Cowboys Stadium in Texas, for example, features high-tech gadgets, such as child-tracking wristbands and a giant, center-hung HD screen. Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis features a retractable roof and two 97-by-53-foot screens. The $1.6 billion MetLife Stadium in New York is billed as "piece of architectural history" on its website and includes giant HD video display boards in each corner of the building and a "ribbon" scoreboard that circles the interior bowl.
Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...70f-52a9-8719-47f91c809678.html#ixzz1kVBq3xQD
The best thing I saw in this article was the "good news" they do not have to worry about adding or removing seats, but it will be a process.