St. Louis Is Trying to Make Itself Attractive to Rams or Patriots : Football: After NFL awards second expansion franchise to Jacksonville, Midwest city gears up to land an existing team.

St. Louis city and county officials were stunned and disappointed in November when the NFL chose Jacksonville as its second expansion franchise over St. Louis, which offered the nation’s largest television market without an NFL team, a new, domed stadium and an attractive financial incentive package.

But there was little time to mope around, because St. Louis’ expansion effort was quickly transformed to a relocation effort, with the New England Patriots and Rams their primary targets.

“There’s renewed hope here,” said Larry Mooney, chief of staff for St. Louis County, which is negotiating the lease for the new stadium. “We have no real priority between the Patriots and Rams, we just hope to attract a team quickly.”

Speculation concerning the Rams’ departure has centered primarily on Baltimore, which seems to be offering the most lucrative deal--a $165 million, 72,000-seat, 108-luxury-box stadium; $1 rental fee per game, and all revenues from tickets, luxury boxes, parking and concessions.

But Mooney believes St. Louis, which has been without pro football since the Cardinals left for Phoenix in 1988, is offering a comparable, if not better, package. The sales brochure for the Gateway Football Partnership Group, headed by Columbia, Mo., businessman Stan Kroenke, includes:

--A $258-million, 70,000-seat domed stadium, jointly financed by the city, county and state, that is already under construction.

--All concession, in-house advertising, luxury box and club seat revenues go to the team.

--The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, which will manage the new stadium, will foot the bill for all game-day expenses (ticket takers, ushers, concession employees, security personnel, utilities, etc.). That could save a team up to $75,000 per game.

A St. Louis team would have to pay $250,000 in rent per year, but that averages out to about $31,000 per game, or less than half of what a team would spend on game-day expenses in another stadium.

“We still feel we’re the best market for a pro football team,” Mooney said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have a unified St. Louis community effort (during the expansion process). There were too many conflicts between the St. Louis NFL Partnership and Gateway Partnership groups.”

Financing for the NFL Partnership, headed by Anheuser-Busch distributor Jerry Clinton, fell apart in October, just before the expansion votes. The Gateway Group emerged with strong financial backing in late October, but infighting among the leadership groups seemed to scare off many NFL owners, who cast their final expansion vote for Jacksonville.

Both groups are still in the hunt for NFL teams, and both reportedly have made contact with the Rams. The Gateway group appears to be concentrating its efforts on the Patriots, but if a $700-million Megaplex project for the Boston area is passed by Massachusetts legislators, the Patriots will stay in New England.

Clinton has reportedly had the more serious talks with the Rams, and he announced Dec. 31 that he had secured $100 million for the purchase and relocation of another team. If the Patriots remain in New England, the Gateway group would likely step up its effort to lure the Rams.

“St. Louis has more than one iron in the fire,” Mooney said. “We have an extremely attractive offer and are very interested in attracting a team.”