ST. LOUIS • While the Rams try to land a new coach, local civic and political leaders are trying to craft a plan for revamping the Edward Jones Dome, with just three weeks left before they must send the team a proposal.
The Rams' lease gives the team an escape clause if the Dome isn't a "first tier" football stadium by 2015. But negotiations are supposed to unfold this year, with a series of upcoming deadlines that start next month.
If the two sides can't reach a deal, the lease eventually could be declared void. After the 2014 season, the Rams would be free to leave, or could rent the Dome on a season-to-season basis, according to the lease.
The "first tier" clause â€" along with the effort to bring pro football back to Los Angeles â€" has created a climate of uncertainty about the Rams' future that may even complicate the search for a new coach. Former Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher, whom the Rams are hoping to land, reportedly is worried about a potential move by the franchise.
By Feb. 1, the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, which manages the Dome, must give the Rams a proposal for improving the stadium, including a financing plan. The proposal is supposed to be one that the CVC "reasonably believes" would put the Dome in the top quarter of all stadiums in the National Football League.
The CVC has been meeting behind closed doors with officials from St. Louis and St. Louis County to hammer out the proposal. So far, no one involved in the talks has broken ranks to discuss what publicly funded improvements to the Dome, if any, will be proposed.
Mike Jones, a senior policy adviser to St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley, wouldn't discuss how much, if anything, the county is willing to contribute. He referred a reporter to the CVC.
So did Jeff Rainford, chief of staff to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.
"We are completely in the loop, but it's a negotiation, and we've all agreed to speak with one voice," Rainford said. "The CVC is taking the lead."
CVC President Kathleen "Kitty" Ratcliffe would not discuss the proposal or the process under way to develop it.
We "are very aware of the deadlines and we are preparing for negotiations," she said in an email.
The team's lease requires that come 2015, the Dome must be superior to three-quarters of all NFL venues. That will be a tall order when more than half of pro football stadiums are newer than the Dome, and the glitziest ones have surpassed $1 billion. Another complication is that the lease does not spell out what exactly constitutes "first tier."
An option, then, may be not so much to hit the "first tier" level but to make at least enough improvements to appease the Rams.
Either way, the cost is likely to reach into the millions at a time when public money is already being spent to pay off the original construction costs.
The Dome was largely financed with $256 million in revenue bonds, and the repayment of that 30-year debt will be $720 million. Every year, Missouri spends $12 million to pay off the debt, and St. Louis and St. Louis County each pay $6 million annually. The county's portion is funded through a 3.5 percent hotel tax approved by voters in 1990.
The lease calls for the Rams to stay in town through 2025 but only if the Dome is judged to be "first tier" at two points: in the 10th year of the lease, in 2005, and again by its 20th year, 2015.
The Rams waived the requirement the first time in exchange for $30 million in publicly funded improvements, including replacing video boards and scoreboards, expanding private end zone clubs, repainting the Dome's interior and installing credit card readers at concession stands.
This time, there are a series of deadlines this year, starting with the CVC's mandate to deliver a plan by Feb. 1. The Rams could counteroffer and would have to do so by May 1. If the two sides can't strike a deal, they will meet in arbitration starting June 15 and, if needed, through the end of December. An arbitrator can't force the CVC to fund improvements to the Dome but can determine whether the plans pushed by either side â€" or a combination of the two â€" would make the Dome a first-tier stadium.
If the two sides still can't reach a deal, the Rams would eventually be free to relocate â€" after March 1, 2015, according to the lease.
Rams spokesman Ted Crews said this week that the team expects the CVC to meet its Feb. 1 deadline.
"The process, as we know it, is on schedule," he said.
--- Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misstated which public entity owns the Edward Jones Dome. The St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority owns the Dome, although the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission is legally responsible for managing the facility and making so-called "first-tier" improvements to it.
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