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With NFL Rams gone, St. Louis still stuck with stadium debt
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Losers
Feb 4, 2016, 5:12:42 PM2/4/16
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The National Football League’s Rams left behind more than
bitterness when the team ditched St. Louis for Los Angeles last
month - it left a stadium saddled with about $144 million in
debt and maintenance costs.
Taxpayers will now shoulder the remaining payments for the
Edward Jones Dome with only the help of revenue from tractor
pulls, volleyball tournaments, concerts and the like.
St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed has asked the
NFL to help pay off the stadium, but so far has gotten no
response.
“The fans are being left holding the bag,” Reed said. “I think
they should factor that into the total cost of the move."
The leftover debt and maintenance costs are another example of
the NFL's negotiating prowess with many cities, sports
economists said, and also reflects larger problems with the deal
St. Louis struck with the Rams.
Even before the team decided to leave, the city's stadium
revenues didn't cover its payments, leaving the city with annual
shortfalls.
The league and the Rams did not respond to requests to comment.
Across the country, cities have gotten stuck with substantial
costs after sports teams leave or even move across town. Often,
local governments must pay bonds, maintenance costs, or
demolition fees after a team is gone.
Houston’s iconic Astrodome, once dubbed the Eighth Wonder of the
World, sits empty a decade after the facility housed 25,000
evacuees of Hurricane Katrina and nearly 20 years after the
Oilers left. The Detroit Lions’ former Silverdome in Pontiac,
Michigan, was used sporadically after the team moved downtown in
2002, but shuttered for good when the inflatable roof was
deflated.
Today, after years of exposure to the elements, the Silverdome
is slated for demolition. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium,
the Washington Redskins' former home, may meet the same fate,
said Greg O’Dell, president and CEO of Events DC, the convention
and sports authority that owns the stadium.
NFL stadiums are primarily designed for one thing - eight home
games a year - and don't necessarily adapt well to alternate
uses. Cities also have little chance of attracting a new
professional team to an old stadium; building a glitzy new one
is often what it takes to win league approval.
“These things become economically obsolete before they become
physically obsolete,” said Victor Matheson, College of the Holy
Cross economics professor.
It’s not uncommon for local governments to pay debts and
maintenance on abandoned stadiums for years - even after it is
demolished. Seattle’s Kingdome bonds were retired only last
year, 15 years after the facility was imploded in 2000.
Philadelphia has $160,000 left to pay on Veterans Stadium, more
than a decade after the facility was torn down. Debt from
Indianapolis’ Hoosier Dome - demolished in 2008 - still hadn't
been paid off in 2013, according to state filings.
In St. Louis, the $280 million agreement to build the Edward
Jones Dome for the Rams raised eyebrows since its opening in
1995. Unlike other stadium deals, the St. Louis contract
included a clause requiring the 67,000-seat dome be maintained
to a first-tier standard, meaning the facility must be
considered among the top quarter of all NFL football facilities.
As the stadium aged - and new, state-of-the-art NFL stadiums
were erected in New Jersey, Texas, and California – the bar
became more onerous.
“This was a contract designed to be broken” by the team, said
Matheson, who studies stadium finances. “They had a terrible,
terrible contract with the Rams."
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sports-nfl-stadiums-insight-
idUSKCN0VC0EP
Dumb democrats negotiated that contract.
bitterness when the team ditched St. Louis for Los Angeles last
month - it left a stadium saddled with about $144 million in
debt and maintenance costs.
Taxpayers will now shoulder the remaining payments for the
Edward Jones Dome with only the help of revenue from tractor
pulls, volleyball tournaments, concerts and the like.
St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed has asked the
NFL to help pay off the stadium, but so far has gotten no
response.
“The fans are being left holding the bag,” Reed said. “I think
they should factor that into the total cost of the move."
The leftover debt and maintenance costs are another example of
the NFL's negotiating prowess with many cities, sports
economists said, and also reflects larger problems with the deal
St. Louis struck with the Rams.
Even before the team decided to leave, the city's stadium
revenues didn't cover its payments, leaving the city with annual
shortfalls.
The league and the Rams did not respond to requests to comment.
Across the country, cities have gotten stuck with substantial
costs after sports teams leave or even move across town. Often,
local governments must pay bonds, maintenance costs, or
demolition fees after a team is gone.
Houston’s iconic Astrodome, once dubbed the Eighth Wonder of the
World, sits empty a decade after the facility housed 25,000
evacuees of Hurricane Katrina and nearly 20 years after the
Oilers left. The Detroit Lions’ former Silverdome in Pontiac,
Michigan, was used sporadically after the team moved downtown in
2002, but shuttered for good when the inflatable roof was
deflated.
Today, after years of exposure to the elements, the Silverdome
is slated for demolition. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium,
the Washington Redskins' former home, may meet the same fate,
said Greg O’Dell, president and CEO of Events DC, the convention
and sports authority that owns the stadium.
NFL stadiums are primarily designed for one thing - eight home
games a year - and don't necessarily adapt well to alternate
uses. Cities also have little chance of attracting a new
professional team to an old stadium; building a glitzy new one
is often what it takes to win league approval.
“These things become economically obsolete before they become
physically obsolete,” said Victor Matheson, College of the Holy
Cross economics professor.
It’s not uncommon for local governments to pay debts and
maintenance on abandoned stadiums for years - even after it is
demolished. Seattle’s Kingdome bonds were retired only last
year, 15 years after the facility was imploded in 2000.
Philadelphia has $160,000 left to pay on Veterans Stadium, more
than a decade after the facility was torn down. Debt from
Indianapolis’ Hoosier Dome - demolished in 2008 - still hadn't
been paid off in 2013, according to state filings.
In St. Louis, the $280 million agreement to build the Edward
Jones Dome for the Rams raised eyebrows since its opening in
1995. Unlike other stadium deals, the St. Louis contract
included a clause requiring the 67,000-seat dome be maintained
to a first-tier standard, meaning the facility must be
considered among the top quarter of all NFL football facilities.
As the stadium aged - and new, state-of-the-art NFL stadiums
were erected in New Jersey, Texas, and California – the bar
became more onerous.
“This was a contract designed to be broken” by the team, said
Matheson, who studies stadium finances. “They had a terrible,
terrible contract with the Rams."
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sports-nfl-stadiums-insight-
idUSKCN0VC0EP
Dumb democrats negotiated that contract.
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