ST. LOUIS — The board that oversees The Dome at America’s Center voted Wednesday to recommend parking NFL settlement money — more than $500 million — in a fund, rather than spending it all.
That fund, like an endowment, would generate earnings to pay for projects and services benefiting St. Louis and St. Louis County for years to come, said members of the board of the Regional Convention and ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ Authority (RSA).
The goal, they said in a resolution that received nearly unanimous support, would be to “maximize the community benefit and to have a transformative, multi-generational economic impact on the St. Louis region.â€
While it didn’t explicitly say it, the resolution appeared to endorse an idea floated by Greater St. Louis Inc. in a recent white paper: a long-term trust or endowment that uses the settlement principal to generate earnings for regional projects in perpetuity. The economic development group’s white paper was .
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RSA Board member Joseph Blanner, who introduced the resolution, at first made a motion encouraging “the strategic investment†of the NFL settlement into “an endowment or trust fund†before amending the wording to simply say “set aside.â€
“I want to make sure that 10 years out we don’t look back and go where did all this money go?†Blanner told the Post-Dispatch after the meeting. “I want to have seen a meaningful impact from the money, used for transformational purposes.â€
The RSA’s recommendation comes as negotiations approach the one-year anniversary of the $790 million settlement reached with the NFL over the Rams’ move to Los Angeles. After more than $275 million in attorney fees to law firms Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch and Dowd Bennett, the remaining half-billion dollars landed in an account with no instructions on how the city, county and RSA should split up the funds.
The city is reportedly seeking the largest share of the funds because of the loss of game day revenue downtown, while the RSA is seeking to secure enough for long-term maintenance of the Dome, which is still used for conventions and events. The RSA’s motion Wednesday said an amount to maintain the Dome should be allocated before the rest is set aside.
But Blanner said the motion was designed to shift the conversation and “stop being so fixated on who gets what.â€
Another board member, Dave Spence, said he hoped the move would spur a “true discussion†between the three parties, whose representatives mostly communicate via lawyer now. Setting the money aside as an endowment — or dividing it up among each political subdivision — will take agreement from all three entities. He and some others worry it could be quickly spent plugging deficits, such as the $40 million shortfall St. Louis County is facing.
“All three of the parties have to agree, and we just thought we’d let our opinion with this resolution be known, that we think it should be set aside, to not fill budget holes,†Spence said. “It should be for investing back into St. Louis and St. Louis County, transformative investments, and it should last more than a couple years.â€
After months of urging from the RSA, the city and county agreed last month to move the settlement money to higher-yielding U.S. Treasuries so that the money generates more interest during the talks among the three parties. By mid-January, when the bonds mature, the original $512 million in Rams settlement money is expected to have grown to $519.5 million, an RSA attorney reported Wednesday.
Missouri’s constitution and state statutes limit where local governments can invest public funds to only the safest, and thus lower-yielding securities. A spokesman for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones — the former treasurer of St. Louis, who oversaw the city’s investment policies — said she has always advocated for using the money “with an eye towards future generations.â€
“St. Louis cannot break the political piggy bank,†Jones spokesman Nick Desideri said. “The funds have been moved to a higher-yield account, and we look forward to working with the Board of Aldermen to utilize these dollars in line with the guidelines outlined by the Missouri State Treasurer.â€
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page’s spokesman said negotiations are going well and the county hoped to have an agreement “very soon.†But there is “no rush†to spend the settlement.
“We agree that using the funds as a long-term investment for the region is a good idea,†Page spokesman Doug Moore said. “When an agreement between the three parties is reached, we will share our recommendations for how to best use the funds with the council and look forward to working with them.â€