Along with being viable, an NFL stadium plan "has to be compelling and attractive," which is where St. Louis "might encounter some problems" with its plan for a new riverfront stadium, according to Vincent Bonsignore of the L.A. DAILY NEWS. After "poking around the past few days, serious concerns are growing in the NFL that any owner -- let alone [the Rams' Stan Kroenke] -- would sign off on what St. Louis is proposing." Sources said that one of the "primary issues ... is how St. Louis views the public/private split for stadium costs and how the NFL looks at things." The issue is St. Louis "using its naming-rights deal with National Car Rental to finance" $75M in bonds to "go toward its share of construction costs." Since the NFL "counts naming-rights money as team revenue, the city will rebate the team a percentage of game-day taxes -- such as levies on tickets, parking or merchandise." The plan "raises NFL eyebrows for a couple of reasons." Not only is St. Louis "tapping into the naming-rights deal -- or team revenue -- to pay part of its portion, it’s then using team revenue in the form of game-day tax rebates to pay it back." When viewed through an NFL lens, the $75M "should count as team money, which brings the private contribution" to $685M. As a result, what St. Louis "currently sees" as a $610M private to $390M public split, the NFL sees as a $685M private to $315M public split. Bonsignore: "That is a huge issue" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 11/7).
