St. Louis Balks at Rams’ Ticket-Sale Request : Football: Team wants guarantee of 55,000 tickets sold for each home game; city says no deal.

Although St. Louis appears to be doing everything it can to fulfill the Rams’ ambitious and expensive relocation wish list, the city will not satisfy at least one of the team’s major requests.

The Rams want a guarantee of 55,000 ticket sales per game to play in the 70,000-seat domed stadium that is being constructed in St. Louis. The city’s response: No way.

“We have said no, and we will continue to say no,” said former U.S. Senator Thomas Eagleton, who is heading the city’s efforts to attract the Rams, at a press conference Monday in St. Louis. “That is a large issue that will continue to be declined.”

The Rams also recently requested that St. Louis consider changing seat colors in the new stadium to the team colors of blue and gold. Eagleton said he didn’t know what colors the seats will be--they are believed to be blue and red--or whether they had been ordered.

But if the seats have been ordered and delivered, and the Rams are not happy with them, it could cost millions to have them replaced.

“They want their team colors--I don’t think that’s being unreasonable,” said Eagleton, who heads a group that hopes to raise at least $60 million to cover the Rams’ anticipated moving costs. “I don’t know what that would cost or if it’s feasible.”

The two issues are examples of why negotiations between St. Louis and the Rams appear to be bogged down in details, but Eagleton said they should not be construed as evidence that a deal is falling apart.

“They want everything in writing, and I don’t blame them,” said Eagleton, who denied ESPN’s report Sunday that a deal had been finalized. “Every issue they can think of will be in the agreement. They want a state-of-the-art facility, and these are important things, and if you leave them open, they might think they’re not going to get them when they get here.”

Eagleton remains confident St. Louis will attract the Rams, “but it’s not a lock,” he said. “The main issues pertaining to the stadium, what’s going to be in it, what the revenue streams will be, how it will be operated, still need to be resolved. But we continue to resolve matters of disagreement every week.”

Eagleton is aware that a local offer to keep the Rams in Orange County has improved--the Save the Rams task force is now exploring the possibility of building a football stadium on the Anaheim Stadium lot instead of refurbishing the present facility.

Ram President John Shaw told reporters in Los Angeles on Sunday that many details remained to be resolved with St. Louis and that no decision on a move would be made for “at least a couple of weeks.”

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue addressed the Ram situation before the Monday night game in San Diego. But he offered no new insights.