Rams Trying To Leave St. Louis?

St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke recently tried to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers but was unsuccessful, and the Missouri native owns an estate in Malibu, California. So recently Kroenke and the Rams have been going back and forth about stadium upgrades that are required in their lease with the Edward Jones Dome.

The Rams signed a 30 year lease when they moved from LA to St. Louis in 1995, and that lease requires that the stadium be among the top quarter of NFL stadiums in 15 separate categories. If it isn’t, the Rams can break the lease after 2014. This has led to rampant speculation that the Rams might be headed back to LA.

Negotiations regarding upgrades began earlier this year. Originally the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission proposed a $48 million renovation plan that was to be publicly funded.

That plan was then rejected, so the CVC responded with a $124 million plan that would require the Rams to pay $64 million and the rest would be publicly funded, and this plan included better amenities, a new scoreboard. Of course the voters in the city and county would have to approve the proposal first.

But the Rams countered with their own plan. A massive estimated $700 million undertaking that would include replacing the roof with a sliding panel and replacing most of the brick exterior with glass panels and would require a street to be rerouted. Mayoral aide Jeff Rainford said it could take 3 years to renovate the dome with this plan. And since the dome also hosts conventions, the extensive and time consuming renovations could cost the city $500 million in revenue.

This proposal was meant to be private but repeated requests to see the proposal by the media using open records requests made the proposal public. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster released it against team wishes on May 14. And many have since concluded that the plan was so outlandish because they knew it couldn’t be reached and would allow the Rams to break their lease after 2014.

The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission and St. Louis Rams are heading to arbitration to figure out what to do about Edward Jones Dome.

“Hopefully with the assistance of an arbitrator we’ll be more successful in coming to a conclusion that is in the best interest of both parties,” CVC spokesman Brian Hall said.

The Rams have remained silent on the issue.

The arbitrators will either endorse the Rams or the CVC’s plan, or develop their own. The CVC will then be granted a 60 day period to decide whether to move forward with that plan or allow the Rams to break the lease.

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