When we presented to the NFL Los Angeles Opportunities Committee in April, I stated that we have had 48 years of NFL football in St. Louis but have never had a team play in a football stadium. Then I added: I would not be involved with this project if it were only about a football stadium.
Since day one, a more comprehensive strategy for what is possible for St. Louis has been the driving force behind this project. We are at a crossroads as a community whose outcome will determine the caliber St. Louis that our children, and their children, will call home. I recognize that a new stadium will not fix all of our problems. There is no single decision that will set us on a course for substantive change and progress, but it will be a series of decisions that will shape our future.
The stadium location was not chosen by accident. We found one of the worst, neglected sites in St. Louis – but one with great promise – to use this project to create meaningful urban renewal. Reviving our front door – the riverfront – can create jobs and can change people’s mindset about our city. And by introducing a natural extension of the new Arch grounds, the stadium and anticipated redevelopment to follow in Laclede’s Landing can draw local people and visitors downtown and give them reasons to stay – and spend their money.
Alongside this, a new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency facility just to the west of our project would be a game-changer for this part of our city and would position St. Louis to garner $3 billion in investment in just three projects. This would create one of the largest swells of construction work in our city’s history and would serve to jump start additional investment downtown.
Meanwhile, our financial proposal to bring this vision to life does not put the city’s credit rating at risk. We are simply continuing the $6 million per year being paid today for the Dome as the Dome debt is paid off, plus pledging a little under two-thirds of the taxes generated by the stadium. his pledge is not incremental indebtedness, but rather all that is pledged is a portion of whatever taxes are generated.
Most importantly, the city is being asked to fund only 15 percent of the project. This means $850 million would come from outside of our city. This includes a significant financial commitment from the NFL and the local team. The scope of this project will support 3,000 well-paid jobs during construction and provide 2,600 part-time jobs for event-day activities. Assets like this stadium also allow for additional events that can draw people to our city.
Who, exactly, benefits? I am the last person to judge an effective minority inclusion plan, as I am not a developer, a politician or economist. However, I have seen the weak results for lasting positive change for minorities on many previous large city projects. To that end, we requested two objectives for those authoring the inclusion plan on this project: any minority firm involved must come out as strong, or stronger, at the conclusion of the project; and we must create careers, not jobs, for minorities.
Our plan is more aggressive than any plan put forward on a project in St. Louis and compares favorably with inclusion plans for other large-scale stadium projects. For example, we have introduced deal points that have never been implemented here or with any other stadium projects throughout the United States, including loans and funds for “quick pay” to minority firms to ensure they don’t get burdened by a lack of cash flow. We also dedicate funds for training and oversight to ensure that those who come into the workforce on this project are tracked and making progress toward a career in the building trades.
The project should create 800 jobs for minorities in our city and will result in $120 million to $140 million being spent on minority worker wages and with minority-owned firms. We have offered to the Board of Aldermen an opportunity to improve the plan and make it an amendment to the financing bill to further enhance the effectiveness of the program.
Colin Powell has said that optimism is a force multiplier. It is up to us to change our future. A football stadium will not itself make changes for everyone, but $3 billion spent on development in our downtown and North City – with an aggressive minority inclusion plan and effective oversight – can help change lives. It is up to us to make prudent decisions, fueled by forward-thinking optimism, and recognize that it is the sum of many parts that make a city great.
With Bob Blitz, Dave Peacock leads the St. Louis NFL Task Force. He is former president of Anheuser-Busch.
