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St. Louis Comptroller Questions Financing Plan Of Proposed Riverfront NFL Stadium

St. Louis City Comptroller Darlene Green released a statement Friday afternoon questioning the financing of the proposed riverfront National Car Rental Field, calling the funding strategy “no touchdown for our taxpayers," according to David Hunn of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. Green said, “Taxes will increase, and that’s not what was promised to our citizens.” But stadium task force co-head Dave Peacock said that Green "was commenting on an outdated proposal," adding that the parties "are still working on details" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 10/10). In St. Louis, David Nicklaus noted in the nine months since St. Louisans were shown a vision of the new riverfront football stadium, the drawings "have gotten more specific, but the financing details haven’t." National Car Rental Field "now has a name, but St. Louis taxpayers still don’t know how they’re going to pay" the $150M that organizers "are asking from them." All that has been said publicly is that the city’s $6M annual payment toward the Edward Jones Dome "will be used to refinance that stadium’s debt, freeing up money for its replacement" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 10/11). 

TIME TO CHANGE COURSE? In San Diego, Kevin Acee wrote of the city's stadium plan to keep the Chargers, "We need to start over." It is "time to get real about the possibility of a stadium in San Diego, and that possibility’s only chance of becoming reality is if we get more time from the NFL." Acee: "We are only getting more time if the NFL believes something can be worked out between the city and the Chargers. San Diego's current proposal will never be agreed to by the Chargers. We need a new proposal." If Mayor Kevin Faulconer "means it when he says he wants to keep the Chargers, he has to have the courage to change course. Immediately" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/10). Also in San Diego, Michael Smolens wrote there is "no question San Diego’s situation doesn’t look good." Smolens: "But we can take some grim satisfaction that the NFL has a mess on its hands. Figuring a way to get one or two teams in L.A. and not seriously damage the other team or teams won’t be easy -- not that it can’t be done" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/11). The UNION-TRIBUNE's Nick Canepa wrote of the stadium plan, "You can’t write what you don’t know. And we don’t know anything. We won’t for a while. ... I am tired of the surmising media who run with innuendo. I am tired of lies, white and dark. I am tired of the planted stories. I am tired of unnamed 'sources.' I am tired of threats, of aspersions cast. I am tired of machinations. I am tired of incompetence" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/10).

BAY WATCH: In S.F., Al Saracevic wrote, "The Raiders have hope. The Niners? Nope." Perhaps the "best barometer of the situation is ticket sales." Yesterday's Broncos-Raiders game "sold out with high-bidding for tickets in the secondary market," while the 49ers' Levi's Stadium "was full of Packers fans and empty red seats last Sunday." Raiders Owner Mark Davis should "take a good look at this picture and realize the Bay Area is his for the taking" rather than move the team to Carson, Calif. The 49ers and the York family, which owns the team, have "offended their following in many ways," leaving S.F. for "another city with a troubled stadium that houses a lousy team." The Raiders should "stay right where they are and capitalize on the York family’s mistakes" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 10/11).

I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW: In Pittsburgh, Gene Collier noted Steelers President Art Rooney II is chair of the league’s stadium committee, and a member of the committee on L.A. opportunities, "though not, as has been thought, the chair of that committee." Rooney said, “That’s been misreported. We don’t have a chair" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 10/11). 

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