News: Expansion Bid News - catch all thread

The Governor elect Eric Greitens (R) of the State of Missouri came out against public funding for an MLS stadium in St. Louis.

The ownership group was to appear before a state board to testify about potential tax credits for a stadium. Their was to be a vote today.

The group cancelled the meeting and will try and meet with the Governor-Elect

 

Yeah... It was more than tax breaks.. They wanted the public to kick in $80 million.. That really shouldn't get in the ownership groups way of going for a team, imho...

 

There still may be a vote in the city for the 80 million dollars.

The group said that they had budgeted 200 million dollars for the expansion fee.

When the fee that came out was 150 million dollars Jim Kavanaugh was asked whether the group would ask the city for 50 million dollars less. The answer was no.

Kavanaugh has said repeatedly that without public money the bid will fail.

 

This will totally be an other people's money comment, but I'd be a little concerned about the ownership group if $80 million got in their way.. None of the owners are exactly hurting for money.

 

It's a saturated sports market predicament, IMO.

Places like Orlando and Sacramento, two markets considered "sports underserved" shell out private dollars with minimal public contribution.

Tapped markets, like STL and Minn say they can't make the numbers work without some level of public assistance.

My first guess is the commitment level of prospective sponsors

 

St. Louis just had a massive hole in sports sponsorship created though...

 

No, they are requesting 80 million from the city and 40 million from the state.
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/...m-seeks-40-million-from-state-80-million.html

A new study that SC STL will no doubt be trumpeting says net economic impact over 33 years is a positive 24.5 million:
https://nextstl.com/2016/12/meric-study-sets-mls-stadium-net-economic-impact-24-5m-33-years/

 

Or it was overextended and righted itself

 

Gov elect gets his way...at least for now:

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/news...um-group-delays-request-for-state-tax-credits

the ownership group behind the proposed professional soccer stadium in St. Louis now says it's temporarily halting its push to obtain $40 million in state tax credits.

 

If he doesn't have any input why was the meeting to vote on the tax credits cancelled yesterday?

The reason is SCSTL said they want to talk to Governor Elect Greitens.

Jim Kavanaugh says they are already looking for other options for the 40 million (I assume digging into their pockets?).

The group has been pretty consistent in saying no public funding then no franchise.

Didn't Minnesota fund their own stadium?

The Board that votes are appointed by the Governor.

 

I believe they got the land for free and, like the St. Louis ownership group, are holding up construction of the stadium until they get a tax break for the construction costs.

 

They are talking about this in the St Louis sub forum too. This news could give cities like Detroit, Cincy and Tampa more of an opening to be number 25 or 26.

Edit: Apparently the ownership group wants $80m from the city and $40m from the state... but the owners are putting a halt on the $40m state tax credit.

 

If you have some spare time, the St. Louligans group (biggest soccer supporter group in STL) conducted an hour-ish long interview with Jim Kavanaugh (one of the leaders of SC STL). He addresses some of the recent stadium concerns. The interview starts ~5 minutes in. The stadium portion of the interview begins ~24 minutes in. I thought it was pretty good.

http://stlouligans.com/archives/2427

 

The head of that three person board actually sent a request to state attorneys to see if there really is anything Greitens could do about it if the board met before January 9th.

More than likely though the vote won't be til after then.

The Governor appoints that three person board.

 

They want to talk to the Governor Elect first.

Jim Kavanaugh does not seem confident they will get the 40 million.

 

Except my guess would be that they wouldn't want to do something that their new boss disagrees with.

My guess is they could be relived of their duties by the new Governor.

 

Owners don't currently have a Plan B for funding if the state tax credits don't come through. It's possible the board could reconsider the proposal at a special meeting in the next two weeks before Nixon leaves office, but if not then it would likely be decided by a board of Greitens appointees in early 2017.

The above paragraph is from stltoday.com. The reporter there says Greitens will be apponting a new board in 2017.

Where did you get your information that Nixon had appointed a new board in 2016?

 

Thanks for clarifying. St Louis deserve a spot... I hope they are 1 of the next 4.

 

Deserved has got nothing to do with it.

 

St. louis' MLS hopes took a major hit yesterday when Governor Elect Greitens came out and said that he has ruled out ANY state funding for an MLS stadium in Saint Louis.

The Chief of Staff for the Mayor of St. Louis said that without state funding it would be difficult to have the city contribute any funds to the stadium.

Jim Kavanaugh the face of the SCSTL group said in a text to a reporter that without public money the group would more than likely not pursue a team.