St. Louis has secured funding for its 18,500-seat stadium?

Discussion in 'MLS: News & Analysis' started by pc4th, Nov 16, 2007.

  1. pc4th New Member

    Member Since:
    Jun 14, 2003
    Location:
    North Poll
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Country:
    United States
    Is that true?
          
  2. Count New Member

    Member Since:
    Oct 7, 2007
    Location:
    Chapel Hill
    Club:
    DC United
    Country:
    United States
    I've read interviews where the owner of the St. Louis club has said that they will be at the construction site, breaking ground, the day after the franchise is awarded. They've had funding for a few weeks now, no?
  3. monster Member

    Member Since:
    Oct 19, 1999
    Location:
    Hanover, PA
    Club:
    DC United
    Country:
    United States
    I believe so. I think their only obstacle to getting a team has been the league's concern about the ownership group. I read something the other day that said they are looking for more investors.
  4. pc4th New Member

    Member Since:
    Jun 14, 2003
    Location:
    North Poll
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Country:
    United States
    Did a search. Found this

    http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sp...DC8D4E6C7C086EA38625739400138270?OpenDocument


    "MLS would like us to really finalize our ownership group, which we're in the process of doing. They would like Philadelphia to finalize its stadium deal. Both things will be done in the near future, and both cities will have teams in the league, if I had to read the tea leaves. Whether we start in 2009 or 2010 would be up to the league's discretion."

    Garber said there are issues in both markets and the league is working to see which city will be ready to play in 2009.

    "We're bullish about the (St. Louis) market," Garber said Wednesday. "I've said this before: It's hard to imagine when you have a strong ownership group — assuming they're able to finalize it — a facility and a market and us not having a team in that market. If Philadelphia comes in, it doesn't preclude St. Louis coming in. Once we make a decision on the 16th team, whether it's Philadelphia or St. Louis, we'll figure out what do with the market in the next round."

    That next round of expansion could take place in 2010 or 2011, Garber said, so the wait might not be long. Ten other cities have expressed interest in teams, and Garber is going to discuss each city's situation in his state of the league speech Friday.

    Where St. Louis stands is pretty much the same place it stood when the Collinsville City Council approved plans for a stadium on Sept. 10. Cooper's ownership group, St. Louis Soccer United, appears to have met all the criteria the league has set forth: a financially qualified local investment group, plans for a soccer-specific stadium, and a host city that has a history of supporting soccer. The league apparently wants deeper pockets to the ownership group — the Seattle ownership group, for instance, includes billionaire Paul Allen — and Garber said the league has been working with Cooper to find additional partners.


    -------------------------------------

    COOL. Maybe Man Utd or Liverpool owners could invest in St. Louis as a partner. (so they can loan St. Louis some players).
  5. Marchetti Member

    Member Since:
    Sep 23, 2004
    Location:
    Chicago->STL->Denver
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    St. Louis has had their stadium deal finalized for over a couple months. The ownership group, however, appears yet to be finalized.
  6. uclacarlos Member

    Member Since:
    Aug 10, 2003
    Location:
    east coast
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Country:
    Spain
    "60-90 days" 'til finalization?

    Or "Seattle/RSL expansion process in which the pieces fell together in less than 180 actual, real-life calendar days" finalization?
  7. Chowda Member

    Member Since:
    Sep 13, 2004
    Location:
    Rhode Island
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Just curious, how's the housing market doing in the Midwest? Also, how dependent is the state budget of Illinois on property values?

    I know in RI, where I'm at, it means everything. It's also one of the few areas of the country which has actually acted somewhat like the bubble model, which has recently popped and our little state recently said "whoops, we aren't at a zero balance, we're actually 500 million in debt". This was four days after the state legislature overturned several vetos to increase dependency programs. Now, a lot of pet projects are looking at getting defunded.

    I'm just curious if the municipalities involved in the St. Louis MLS movement could see a similar crunch like the one we are seeing in parts of New England?
  8. Chowda Member

    Member Since:
    Sep 13, 2004
    Location:
    Rhode Island
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    You could say the Seattle movement was going for years waiting for a money man to come to town to lure Paul Allen into the mix.
  9. ReneGoulet New Member

    Member Since:
    Aug 10, 2007
    WHAAAA? I never understand shoot-from-the-hip comments like this.
  10. Huwiler's Odoreaters New Member

    Member Since:
    Apr 10, 2007
    Does anyone know just what a "strong ownership group" means? Does it mean a group willing to pony up an expansion fee, or is a letter of credit with substantial assurances involved?
  11. smokarz Member

    Member Since:
    Aug 9, 2006
    that's one very interesting statement....why would the league push for VERY RICH investors?

    do they have some sigificant financial changes in the near future that requires DEEP POCKETS? salary cap increases??? dp slots increases?

    if there's any sign to this, i think there will be many exiciting changes for the league by 2010.....
  12. uclacarlos Member

    Member Since:
    Aug 10, 2003
    Location:
    east coast
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Country:
    Spain
    Oh, I know that...

    ... But come last Feb/Mar, it was clear that there was major momentum...
  13. sirfallsalot_2000 New Member

    Member Since:
    Apr 18, 2006
    Location:
    St. Louis, MO
    Club:
    AC St. Louis
    We have had funding since Sept. 10th. THey are looking to solidify an ownership group surrounding Jeff Cooper. What we think that means is they are looking for other deep pockets to join Cooper.
  14. Z010 Union Moderator

    Member Since:
    Mar 28, 2002
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Country:
    United States
    I think it means avoiding a Miam Fusion repeat. One wealthy owner getting dunked in cash calls until they go tits up. Once they surround Cooper with some other fat cats, St. Louis is golden.
  15. dabes2 Member

    Member Since:
    Jun 1, 2003
    Location:
    Chicago
    Agreed about the Fusion comment.

    So how rich is Cooper? Anyone know?

    Hopefully it's that they just want more money behind him, and not that they don't like Cooper.
  16. KnucklesBuchanan Member

    Member Since:
    Jul 12, 2007
    Location:
    Section 149
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Wait a minute, they don't have an ownership group? That's just nuts.
  17. SoccerPrime Moderator

    Member Since:
    Apr 14, 2003
    Location:
    Helghan
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Country:
    United States
    Right now, Cooper IS the investment group (there are no team owners in MLS).

    So Philly has a investment group with deep pockets but looking for a decent gov't public contribution for the stadium (they have $30 million already wrapped up from the County). STL has the gov't contribution (~$30 million) but doesn't have a robust investment group.

    What now?
  18. Z010 Union Moderator

    Member Since:
    Mar 28, 2002
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Country:
    United States
    Fight at MLS Cup to see who gets the team ;)
  19. KnucklesBuchanan Member

    Member Since:
    Jul 12, 2007
    Location:
    Section 149
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    I was under the impression that MLS was getting away from that model entirely, and going towards single owners for teams (as far as I know, Lew Wolff and the Hanauer/Roth group actually own their franchises, just not the players).
  20. SideshowBob Member

    Member Since:
    Jan 12, 2007
    Location:
    Northern VA
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Country:
    United States
    At this point, I believe all grous are still I/O (investers/operators) and MLs is still single entity. It's likely that once AEG and HSG divest themselves of their multiple teams (AEG seems headed that way by reportedly planning to sell Houston), I suspect all teams will basically operate as traditional single ownership franchises, but the league will probably continue to be single entity in name and in certain functions for the purposes of negotiating with the players and for anti-trust reasons.

    That said, it's still in MLS's best interests to have investers/owners that are well capitalized, which Cooper alone doesn't appear to fit (by their criteria; I'm sure most of us would be happy to be as "undercapitalized" as he is).
  21. SoccerPrime Moderator

    Member Since:
    Apr 14, 2003
    Location:
    Helghan
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Country:
    United States
    I haven't heard that at all. The League still owns the player contracts and then assigns them to teams. What most ppl term ownership groups are actually investor/operator groups. They are investing in MLS for the right to operate a team in their city. They own a piece of MLS but do not actually own any one team.

    Lew Wolff, for example, is just one person in a much larger investment group, which includes his fellow Oakland As investors (John Fisher etc) and also the NHL SJ Sharks.
  22. KnucklesBuchanan Member

    Member Since:
    Jul 12, 2007
    Location:
    Section 149
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    That seems like semantics to me. Wolff et. al. own the franchise. Sure, MLS has a funky structure, but the brand itself is owned by the franchise holders.
  23. Rocket Member

    Member Since:
    Aug 29, 1999
    Location:
    Chicago
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Country:
    United States
    Your numbers certainly make a lot more sense than the linked news article, which reads:

    "The Philadelphia investment group has proposed a $115 million stadium along the Chester riverfront. Delaware County has pledged $30,000 for the project. Now the investors await state aid that would make or break the project, group attorney Charles Kopp said."
  24. VioletCrown Member

    Member Since:
    Aug 30, 2000
    Location:
    Austin, Texas
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Country:
    United States
    With that in mind, it would be interesting to review the groups that own/operate MLS teams. We tend to think of them as individuals, but reality is that they're large groups with lots, lots, lots of money.

    If I tried naming them, I'd just look foolish, so maybe someone else can chip in.

    It would give us an idea of what MLS wants from St. Louis.
  25. VioletCrown Member

    Member Since:
    Aug 30, 2000
    Location:
    Austin, Texas
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Country:
    United States
    The newspaper got the county contribution wrong.

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