NFL owners yesterday at their meetings in Texas largely maintained that their first priority "wasn’t L.A. -- it was evaluating proposals to build new stadiums and keep football teams in home markets," according to a front-page piece by David Hunn of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. They suggested that if San Diego and St. Louis "can nail down public financing, and secure the needed legislative approval" to build stadiums for the Chargers and Rams, respectively, owners "wouldn’t allow other owners to move their teams" to L.A. 49ers CEO Jed York said, "St. Louis and San Diego are trying to push things forward at this point. I want to make sure, first and foremost, I look at what happens in the home markets, and then we’ll get to if there’s an L.A. opportunity." Hunn reports the city of St. Louis has "pitched a new deal" after Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon's stadium task force a few weeks ago proposed using a $158M naming-rights deal to "pay for a portion of the construction cost on a potential St. Louis riverfront stadium." A source said that the task force in recent private correspondence with the league "said it would give naming rights back to the team." The task force "suggested, instead, using anticipated game-day tax revenue to back construction." Those taxes were, in previous versions of the deal, "supposed to reimburse the NFL team for the loss of naming rights dollars." Texans Owner Bob McNair: "They’ve restructured their deal somewhat. And so I think they’ve made some good progress. But there’s a lot that remains to be seen in their proposal." McNair also "warned that St. Louis was on the verge of trouble." He added that Nixon’s stadium task force "must pin down all financing details and governmental approvals before the league can even consider" St. Louis’ $1B stadium proposal. McNair: "Until its certain, there’s no deal. You really can’t consider it until it’s certain. So it’s in their best interest to firm it up" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/3).
KNOCK THE VOTE: In St. Louis, Nicholas Pistor reports the city "will not ask voters to approve a plan to finance the construction of a new professional football stadium on downtown’s north riverfront." The aldermanic Convention & Tourism committee yesterday "voted down" a bill that "would have required a public vote before any taxpayer dollars could be spent on stadium construction." The vote was a "boost to the task force, which has been working to remove any potential obstacles to the proposed construction plan" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/3). In California, Scott Reid notes the St. Louis aldermen "still have to approve the financing plan and are scheduled to go on a holiday break Dec. 11 and not return until Jan. 8, just five days before" the owners' Jan. 13 relocation vote in Houston. NFL officials also "don't believe the stadium can be built" for $1B. They said that $1.2-1.3B is "a more realistic figure" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 12/3).
