ST. LOUIS (AP/KMOX) - Two civic leaders who played major roles in bringing the Rams to St. Louis have been tapped to play similar roles in trying to keep them here.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon discussed the future of the football team during a teleconference this morning.
Nixon is giving attorney Bob Blitz and former Anheuser-Busch executive Dave Peacock 60 days to develop options to be presented to the Rams before Jan. 28, when the team is scheduled to announce if they’ll convert their Edward Jones Dome lease to year-to-year.
“I’m not sure you could find two better people, in whatever city you were in, in whatever town you’re in in America to do this,” he said.
There’s a number of options to take, Nixon said, and he has confidence that the two will bring a “tight pencil to it, that’s for sure.”
Nixon indicated the retiring of bonds on the dome, scheduled for 2021, could finance part of a public/private funding partnership.
The teleconference was the first time the governor held an event to talk specifically about negotiations with Rams owner Stan Kroenke.
Kroenke has been non-committal about what the future holds. There is speculation that Kroenke could move the team to Los Angeles as early as the 2015 season.
Any move would need league approval.
The Rams are unhappy with the dome, and bringing it up to the standards of modern NFL stadiums would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
This story was updated at 11:39 a.m. Nov. 5.
(TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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