Ram Renovations

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moklerman

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It's a blog, but it's a pretty good overview of stadium possibilities and situations in St. Louis for the Rams. I left out the pictures and last couple of paragraphs so check the link for everything:

Jonathon Shank said:
http://thehorn.sportsblog.com/post/584854/ram_renovations.html

By Jonathan Shank @jonathanshank

One of the hot issues surrounding the Rams at the moment is the lease situation. Silent Stan isn't giving us any insight, so today I am going to dive into all the rumors and logistics of the current stadium and what can be done to get a new one in place. For the purpose of this article we are going to assume the Rams will stay in St Louis because until there is any movement in other markets for a stadium, they really aren't an option to be considered.

First up, let's look at the Edwards Jones Dome. Do we really need a new stadium or can we just upgrade the current one? While I am probably one of the few that doesn't mind the dome too much, I can understand the reasoning behind just building a new stadium instead of upgrading. The dome has good sight lines even from my tickets up in section 420 and it can get really loud when defense needs a little help. That is pretty much where the "good" of the dome stops. The dome is a dark, cell service black hole that is just really boring. Part of the problem with building it in 1995 was the timing. It was one of the last fixed roof, run of the mill domes that was built. If it had been built even five years later it my have been more upgraded and thought of as a much better place to play today. The weather in St. Louis can be beautiful in the fall and not having a roof that can be opened is a major drawback on those days. Parking is also a situation that is lacking downtown. There are plenty of spaces but since most are in parking garages it takes away from the tailgating atmosphere they have in Kansas City and other locations.

Last year, the team and the city both put out plans to upgrade the dome. I liked aspects of both ideas because both brought in more natural light which I think is a must and a better overall fan experience. The Ram's plan was a $700 million dollar overhaul which included tearing down half the dome and it not being in use for a length of time, while the CVC's was $124 million smaller upgrade. Both plans were rejected by the other party and then the Rams was chosen by an arbitrator, which the CVC as expected turned down. It wouldn't have made much sense to accept that offer just to kick in the last ten years on the lease.

This all comes back to the Rams building a new stadium. There is no reason to pay $700 million in upgrades to the current dome when you can build a new one for not much more than that. A new stadium will be a win-win for all parties involved. The CVC wants to be able to schedule events in the convention center and dome year round and not have six months of the year taken out of their schedule, which would net extra millions of dollars for the city each year, and the Rams want a top tier facility that they can do what they want with and have more control over. Stan has made all his money in developing land and building a new stadium complex seems to be something he would be interested in doing.

Now let's take a look at what kind of stadium is needed to best suit St. Louis and it's fans. The two options that make the most sense are an open air stadium or a retractable roof stadium. The open air stadium would cost less money but also open the game to some of the crazy fall and winter weather St. Louis has to offer. This would also limit some of the events it could hold like Finals Fours and other indoor events. Throwing out Metlife stadium, which is larger and more upgraded than what would be spent on a stadium here, we are looking at the $700 million dollar range for an open air stadium. Philadelphia, New England, and Seattle were the most recent open air stadiums and they were built for an estimated $450 to $650 million in 2014 dollars. Option two is a retractable roof stadium. While this option would cost more, it would be more fan friendly and could be closed on rainy or cold days. It also could be used for a bigger variety of events, which include the possibility of a Superbowl. This type of stadium for St. Louis will be more in the $800 million (Indianapolis) to $1 billion (Minnesota) dollar range. The retractable roof stadium makes the most sense for St. Louis because of the weather issues and multi use capabilities of it that I think Silent Stan would like to have.

Now that we have a stadium picked out we just need to figure out where to put it. From the rumors, the three possible sites for it are downtown, Fenton and Maryland Heights.

Fenton has the old Chrysler plant land. This land is already flat and ready to go. There wouldn't be a need to talk to multiple land owners and once it is secured, building a stadium could be started pretty quickly. There also would be plenty of room for parking and tailgating as well as developing other businesses around the stadium. The only con to this location would be lack of public transportation. There is plenty of interstate access running through that location though with 270 and 44 nearby. Shuttles could be set up from Metrolink stops or other parking locations to cut down on some traffic.

Maryland Heights would be similar to Fenton in that is it flat and there is a lot of land. The logistics of securing enough land could be an issue by talking to multiple land owners. There also could be flooding concerns some years. Transportation would be similar to Fenton in that there is the Page Extension and Maryland Heights Expressway that would lead straight to the stadium. Public transportation would have to have busses or shuttles set up for use. The Metrolink could eventually be extended out to it but I think that would be a long shot.

Downtown would already have all the transportation in place but would lack land and tailgate parking. Randy Karraker from 101 espn radio has suggested that a location surrounded by 1st/Carr/3rd and Mullanphy streets just northeast of the dome would be an ideal location. This location would also take more time with securing land from different land owners but overall would be the smoothest transition infrastructure wise to building a new stadium. It also might clean up some of the city that is less desirable and increase land values in that area if Stan can work his magic developing surrounding land.

Seeing that Fenton is more ready to go than Maryland Heights, to me that location or the downtown location would make the most sense.

Last thing to look at it is how to pay for the stadium. Stan doesn't seem to be willing to shell out all the money so some public money will have to be put into building the stadium. Minnesota put a $3 a pack tax on cigarettes which they think will raise $33 million a year for the stadium. Since Illinois is already $2-$3 more a pack than Missouri it would be logical to believe if there was a $2 tax on them here that you could raise money with a tax like that also. I am not sure if the rest of the state would get on board with that since we are not the only NFL team in the state but I think it is worth looking into. Another options that have been brought up are higher sales taxes on game days and higher taxes for hotel rooms. The NFL also has the G4 loan that can be used for up to $200 million dollars as long as you do not move the team out of its home market. If we can get the "Superbowl nod" from the NFL, that could also help pay for the stadium. I have seen figures from a Superbowl's impact is anywhere from zero to $500 million for a city. I think the actual number is more around $100 million from reading people who I think are in the know on the subject.
 

Dagonet

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I'm clicked on the thread expecting to see Drew and Jonathan Scott. :cool: Might not hurt to get them involved... Regardless, it was a good read Mokler and thanks for posting.