- Joined
- Jul 31, 2010
- Messages
- 8,874
Nixon to discuss Rams stadium situation
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_48e9de88-9c2f-5dcb-b6ad-fa38b6807821.html
After months of silence on both sides, Gov. Jay Nixon will hold a media conference call Wednesday to discuss the Rams' stadium situation and the next step towards keeping the team in St. Louis.
Nixon's comments are expected to be general but positive in nature, stressing the state's and the region's commitment to coming up with a solution. Expectations are that there will be no specific details on the stadium plan discussed in the conference call, but according to sources familiar with the situation, such plans will be made public by the end of the calendar year.
It is expected, however, that Nixon will talk about formation of a committee or task force to deal with the stadium issue. It's not known whether Nixon will reveal any or all of the names of committee members Wednesday.
As reported last month by the Post-Dispatch's Bryan Burwell, the stadium site is located north of Lumiere Place and south of the Stan Musial Bridge on the north edge of downtown. The plan at this point seems to be to construct an outdoor stadium, with space for large surface parking lots as well. Burwell also reported at that time that the silence from local negotiators would be broken after the Nov. 4 elections.
The Rams were made aware of the conference call and were in contact with the governor Tuesday. The team has yet to see any form of stadium design plans from the city/region.
As a result of a "first tier" clause in the team's stadium lease, the Rams can seek to move elsewhere by notifying the league of their plans as early as Feb. 15, 2015. And there has been plenty of speculation about the possibility of the team moving to Los Angeles.
But one of the provisos of the NFL approving such a move is that all efforts must be exhausted to keep the team in its current city. If nothing else, Nixon's remarks Wednesday should buy the city some time and make it all but impossible for the Rams to relocate in 2015 _something that logistically would have been very difficult to do anyway.