Happy Wednesday,
Post-Dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson here. This week's questions will be answered below. Thanks, and please don't be shy about sending in any questions or comments you want to see tackled. Have a great rest of your week!Â
Got a question? Email me here (bfrederickson@post-dispatch.com) or find me on X (formerly known as Twitter) at and hashtag your question with #BF5.
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This week's spotlight goes to . . . Jimmy, via Twitter.
Q: Did you see the NFL approved $300 million in league-approved debt for for the Jacksonville Jaguars' $1.4 billion stadium renovation project? Wasn't a similar request blocked when St. Louis tried to keep the Rams?
BenFred: I did. Ben Fischer, who does a great job for the ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ Business Journal, reported it. Great first name, too. For those who remember, St. Louis did hope to receive the exact same amount ($300 million) in league money for its plan to keep the Rams. That number didn't come out of thin air, either. The group leading the charge to keep the Rams here was led to believe it was realistic. Then, after the project actually got more headway than the league ever seemed to think it would, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell interfered. He wrote a letter before STL aldermen voted that called the request for $300 million, "fundamentally inconsistent" with how the league does loans for stadium developments. He stressed that only $200 million could be asked for, ignoring that, again, the $300 million idea didn't come out of thin air. Well, since then, predictably, $300 million has indeed become the new norm of what can be asked for and received from teams in league-backed loans for stadium developments and renovations. Go figure. It's just more evidence that the NFL making it up on the fly to keep the St. Louis effort down, which is why the league ultimately settled the lawsuit for a record amount as it was proven the ignored and abused relocation guidelines went against Missouri contract law. All STL can do now is make sure the settlement money gets invested and used wisely, which I'm afraid to say has not always been the case so far.
One more thing on this then I'll shut up about it. This isn't just an example of the league adjusting its stadium-money loan program for inflation, as some have suggested. The league officially raised the number from $200 million to $300 million in 2023. But long before that, remember what happened in January 2016. Barely more than a month after slapping down St. Louis' request for $300 million to keep the Rams, Goodell went on the record to declare the league would make $300 million available to San Diego if it came up with a suitable plan, in the league's eyes, to create a new home for the Chargers.
Again, there's a reason the NFL settled.