ST. LOUIS • An open-air stadium on the north riverfront wouldn’t be a throw-away model, but the city’s “first-ever forever†football facility, planners said on Friday.
“That’s a skyline change,†former Anheuser-Busch President David Peacock said he told National Football League officials. “We don’t do that lightly. So if we do, it’s permanent.â€
Peacock said the league’s executives understood — local leaders aren’t interested in building a stadium that gets discarded in 30 years, in favor of newer, sleeker models.
Peacock and FleishmanHillard Senior Vice President Jim Woodcock met with the Post-Dispatch editorial board on Friday morning.
Peacock was half of a two-member task force appointed by Gov. Jay Nixon in November to author a stadium plan that could keep an NFL team in St. Louis. That followed years of unsuccessful negotiations between St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke and officials in charge of the Edward Jones Dome, where the Rams now play.
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Nearly two weeks ago, Kroenke announced plans to build a stadium outside Los Angeles.
Four days later, Peacock and Blitz revealed plans for a new 64,000-seat stadium on the Mississippi River just north of downtown St. Louis.
Some locals quickly criticized any move to discard the Edward Jones Dome.
In Friday’s meeting with the editorial board, Peacock said he understood the complaints. “I think we’re a community that doesn’t want to build a stadium every 30 years,†he said.
But the Edward Jones Dome is “suboptimal,†he said. It was constructed as an addition to the city convention center. That’s how it was sold to the public, and why the economics made sense then. It didn’t have much NFL input in its design, he said. And it wasn’t built to accommodate renovation and growth.
“And the lease is not good for us,†he added. “Why are we fighting for it?â€
Outdoor facilities — Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Soldier Field in Chicago and Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City — have lasted longer and proved easier to renovate, he said.
Moreover, the plan doesn’t dump the Jones Dome, Peacock said. Convention center leaders have said they will sell far more conventions without the Rams.
“Many conventions won’t book knowing there’s an NFL game going on next to them,†he said.
The NFL is committed to St. Louis, he said.
“They feel a real obligation to do everything possible to keep a team in St. Louis,†Peacock said.
But keeping a team requires building a new facility, he said.
“Our money is effectively conditional on private money,†Peacock said. “This is a public-private initiative.
“Without support of the league/team, we’re not building this stadium.â€
