UPDATE: The two members of stadium task force appointed by Gov. Nixon says they will present their plans to the Governor on Friday, and hope to go public with the proposal shortly thereafter. Nixon said he looks forward to reviewing their recommendations.
Our original story:
LOS ANGELES (KMOX) – St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke says he will build a stadium in the Los Angeles area, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Already the owner of 60-acres of land near the LA Forum, as KMOX News reported nearly one year ago, Kroenke’s latest deal involves a much larger piece of real estate where he and a partner group plan to construct an 80,000 seat, state-of-the-art NFL stadium.
The team downplayed the land purchase last year.
The Hollywood Land Company, a joint venture between Stockbridge Capital Group and The Kroenke Group, plans to build the stadium along with a 6,000-seat performance venue, a 300-room hotel, 2,500 residential units, 1.7 million square feet of retail and office space and 25 acres of public parks, playgrounds and open space on the site.
(Credit: Hollywood Park Land Company)
The development is named the “City of Champions Revitalization Project.”
Inglewood Mayor James Butts told CBS Los Angeles that he spoke to Kroenke on Sunday about the project:
“After nearly a decade of collaborating with Inglewood city leaders and residents on the redevelopment of Hollywood Park, we are excited to unveil an expanded plan that will bring a world-class sports and entertainment district to Hollywood Park,” Terry Fancher, founder of Stockbridge, said in a statement. “We are committed to working with [the Kroenke Group] to build a project that will put Inglewood back on the map as home of the truly great sports and entertainment venues.”
Butts held a news conference later Monday regarding the project. Listen below:
Jeff Rainford, St. Louis Mayor Slay’s chief of staff, answered questions about the situation Monday on KMOX’s Total Information AM.
“For quite sometime now, we’ve had serious doubts about whether Stan Kroenke wants to be in St. Louis, and I think this latest news confirms those doubts,” Rainford said.
In L.A., developers said no tax dollars would be used for the project, including the stadium. The group plans to begin gathering signatures soon for an initiative that would place the entire project on the Inglewood municipal ballot this year.
This, of course, focuses renewed attention on the Rams, who will soon officially submit to convert their lease in St. Louis a yearly basis, even as they spar with city officials over the condition of the aging Edward Jones Dome.
Rainford pointed out this doesn’t mean the Rams are as good as gone, but does admit the pressure’s building for a response.
He promised that whether it’s upgrading the Edward Jones Dome or building a whole new stadium, that response will not increase taxpayer burden.
“Whatever happens to keep the NFL in St. Louis in the future, the mayor has said, repeatedly, no new taxes, no new fees on anything other than the game day experience,” Rainford said.
Rams COO Kevin Demoff has told KMOX’s Sports on a Sunday Morning that the team does plan to go year-to-year, and play in St. Louis for at least 2015.
The two sides remain more than a half-billion dollars apart on what they think is needed to bring the Dome up to current NFL standards. Since the city lost an arbitration case involving Dome upgrades, local conversation has turned to new construction.
Gov. Jay Nixon last November appointed former Anheuser-Busch president Dave Peacock and attorney Bob Blitz to formulate plans for a new, riverfront stadium as well as how to pay for it.
“I know they’re hard at work at it,” Demoff said of the pair just this past Sunday on KMOX. “I would expect [their proposal] would come sometime in the next few weeks.”
The Stadium Task Force released a statement late Monday:
“The news today is another reminder of how much competition there can be for National Football League franchises and projects that include NFL stadiums, but it does not change our timeline or approach. It is important to remember this will be a long-term process, but one that the State of Missouri and the St. Louis region are fully pledged to seeing through. We are ready to demonstrate our commitment to keeping the NFL here, and to continue to illustrate why St. Louis has been and will always be a strong NFL market. We will present a plan to Governor Nixon this Friday as scheduled, and we expect that it will meet his criteria, thereby allowing us to share our vision with the public shortly thereafter. In the meantime, we will continue to have discussions with the NFL, as well as Rams leadership.”
“St. Louis is an NFL city and I am committed to keeping it that way. I look forward to reviewing the recommendations from Dave Peacock and Bob Blitz later this week and working with the St. Louis community to put forward a plan that’s consistent with our principles of protecting taxpayers, creating jobs, and making significant use of private investment to clean up and revitalize underutilized areas.”
Los Angeles has seen other stadium proposals fall by the wayside in the two decades since the Rams left for St. Louis, but this is the first time an existing team owner has gotten this involved in building a new stadium there.
This story was updated at 4:30 p.m.
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