The three NFL teams proposing stadiums in L.A. -- the Rams, Chargers and Raiders -- "are scheduled to present their plans next week to the six NFL owners in charge of the process, the latest and most significant step yet if the sport is to return to the California city after a more than two-decade absence," according to Daniel Kaplan of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Sources said that owners of the teams "will offer their most detailed stadium plans to date" at the April 22 N.Y. meeting. Those presentations "will include details on architecture, financing and the political process in their efforts." NFL Exec VP/Business Ventures Eric Grubman "will update the league’s six-owner Los Angeles committee on the efforts in the teams’ current home markets to keep the franchises in those cities" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/13 issue). In San Diego, Kevin Acee reports Grubman "will follow up last week’s conference call with the Citizens Stadium Advisory Group by making his first visit to San Diego on Tuesday." This "is big" because as much as momentum in San Diego "has been building locally, this signals a crucial sort of starting point in the city’s bid to build a new stadium and keep the Chargers." What is building in San Diego "is a relative tidal wave of energy," which might "be enough to convince/force the Chargers to stay." CSAG execs "have been working maniacally, and local politicians have mostly either prudently stayed out of the way or made the right maneuvers" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 4/11).
GRABBED BY THE HORNS: In St. Louis, David Hunn reported the public body that owns and operates the Edward Jones Dome on Friday filed suit against the city "seeking to avoid a civic vote on the use of taxpayer money for a new downtown football stadium." The suit, filed in state court by the St. Louis Sports Commission, says that an '02 city ordinance requiring a public vote "is 'overly broad, vague and ambiguous,' and asks the judge to rule that it either doesn’t apply in this case, conflicts with state statute or is unconstitutional." It "comes at a key time," as Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s stadium task force "has been working for months to solidify financing and sidestep project-killing delays before presenting plans" for the $985M stadium to the NFL owners. St. Louis Sports Commission Chair Dave Peacock: "Our issue is time -- not a public vote. They sped up the timeline. We need clarity quickly." Hunn noted the lawsuit for the first time "spells out the city’s now-expanded role." The suit says that the city "will issue new bonds, which will pay off the city’s debt on the Jones Dome as well as provide capital for the new construction." Debt service "will not exceed" the $6M a year in current payments. The city "also will donate land to the project, and provide some sort of tax-based incentives, such as tax-increment financing or creation of a transportation development district or community improvement district" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 4/12).
