St. Louis Contingent Comes Calling on Rams : Football: Missouri group officially steps into battle to lure team from Anaheim.
St. Louis government officials, who have been monitoring the Rams’ search for a new home from the sidelines, finally got into the game Sunday, spending three hours with Ram Executive Vice President John Shaw to discuss moving the team to St. Louis.
Baltimore Oriole owner Peter Angelos has been to Los Angeles twice in the past six weeks to meet with Shaw and Ram owner Georgia Frontiere about moving to Baltimore.
St. Louis, fearing it was falling behind in the race, sent House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), St. Louis Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. and St. Louis County Executive George (Buzz) Westfall.
“There was a sense of urgency (to this meeting),” Westfall said during a brief news conference at the Century Plaza Hotel. “We didn’t want to sit idly by while the Rams slipped through our fingers. We failed last year (in a bid for an NFL expansion team), and we don’t want to fail again. That’s why we’re here.”
Westfall and Bosley said Sunday’s meeting was introductory and exploratory in nature, and that the bulk of the three hours was spent with the St. Louis group trying to sell the Rams on its city and facility, a 70,000-seat domed stadium that is scheduled to be completed in 1995.
The stadium, part of a $258 million convention center project, will include 101 skyboxes and 6,550 club seats, and favorable lease terms would give an NFL team all concession, parking, in-house advertising, skybox and club seat revenue. A team would pay $250,000 a year in rent, but $75,000 in game-day expenses would be paid for.
In contrast, the Rams pay the city of Anaheim 60 cents per admission, not to exceed $400,000 a year, 7.5% of their ticket revenue, 20% of luxury box revenue and about half of parking and concession revenue.
“I think they were incredibly impressed with our facility,” Westfall said. “Shaw was also impressed that the mayor and I and the House Majority Leader came for the first meeting, and he has agreed to another meeting. All things considered, things went as well as could be expected.”
Shaw could not be reached for comment.
Westfall admitted being somewhat apprehensive about negotiations, but after meeting with Shaw and two Ram representatives--Frontiere was not present--he said he’s confident the team is considering St. Louis. Gephardt had to catch an earlier flight and was not available for comment.
“We came in thinking we might be wasting our time,” Westfall said. “We didn’t know whether the Rams were seriously considering St. Louis, whether they were serious about leaving L.A., or whether they had their minds made up about going to Baltimore. But we leave here knowing, quite certainly, that we’re in the hunt.”
One reason St. Louis has lagged behind Baltimore is that it has been paralyzed by a stadium lease dispute that only began to clear up two weeks ago when James Orthwein, former New England Patriots owner, agreed to turn over his 65% share of the lease to FANS Inc. (Football At the New Stadium), a nonprofit group formed by Westfall and Bosley.
Jerry Clinton, a St. Louis beer distributor who has reportedly met with Shaw, still controls 30% of the lease and has been seeking some $8 million to relinquish his share. City officials had previously offered $3.5 million, and an agreement has not been reached.
“We talked about the lease for about half an hour,” Westfall said. “We think we can resolve it. We already have with Orthwein, and we’re confident we can do the rest.”
