State funding for new stadium fails in Missouri House
Legislature elects to pass on bill

(Author’s note: This article originally appeared in the May 18, 2002 edition of NationalPastimes.net’s The Daily)

It didn’t come as a surprise that State Bill 1279 wasn’t passed by the Missouri House.

But it did come as a surprise in the manner that it happened.

For the better part of the last year, State Bill 1279, better known in St. Louis as the “stadium bill”, sought state money to help build a new stadium for the St. Louis Cardinals. The stadium was to be built just south of their current facility, August A. Busch, Jr. Memorial Stadium, aka Busch Stadium II.

The bill was part of a $644 million package that included:

• $7 million a year for a new Cardinals ballpark
• $3 million a year for the maintenance of Savvis Center, home of the St. Louis Blues
• $9.8 million annually for 30 years for football and baseball stadiums in Kansas City
• $32 million spread out over a 23-year time span for a convention center and arena in Branson
• $18 million distributed over 23 years for an exposition center in Springfield.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals ownership group, the bill died before it even got to a vote.

In what was the last day for the Missouri Legislature for summer vacation (vacation? you hafta be kidding me. . .), they debated many issues in order to avoid having to remotely discuss the issue in an open forum. Some issues that did manage to be debated: special license plates for Missouri drivers, whether or not the meat from McDonald’s should be from in-state farms rather than from Argentina and sound abatements.

Cowards.

This has been a hotly contested matter in a state that, for the most part, was considered bankrupt two weeks ago. Many state representatives and senators hemmed and hawed on the issue of stadium funding for that very reason: that the state couldn’t afford the funding based on the economic climate of the time.

(Warning: Writer’s Rant follows…purely opinion)

With that, I don’t have a problem. The economy is lousy right now. The nation is struggling to get back on its feet after September 11 and is slowly starting to rebound. The state of Missouri is so bad right now that they had recently stopped payment on residents’ tax refund checks due to $167 million shortfall in the state budget.

Somehow, Missouri’s lawmakers managed to balance the budget over the next year, but failed to even debate the bill.

There lies my gripe.

As a citizen of any state, we elect officials to debate laws based upon on our voting them into office. We do this so we can have a voice heard in the lawmaking process. Unfortunately, the legislature failed the citizens of Missouri by not at least debating the issue. I, for one, don’t care one way or the other if it wasn’t passed or not, but to just take the easy way out and do nothing about it by debating on what kind of meats McDonald’s uses is pure folly. This is not to mention the 12% ticket tax sports teams pay inside the city limits of St. Louis on each ticket sold, of which, in this writer’s opine, is a HUGE sticking point for the team to even consider staying inside the city. That’s why the Blues wanted money for maintenance for Savvis: they lose a boatload of cash in ticket tax, which is among the largest in pro sports.

(Rant over . . . feel a bit better)

So where do the Cardinals go from here?

Well, that’s the $644 million question. (That number is derived from the combined cost of the stadium and the pipe dream known as Ball Park Village, an idea floated by the Cardinals to help “stimulate” business downtown that would have been located directly behind the left-field portion of the park, consisting of shops, housing, and museum.)

Mark Lamping, Cardinals team president, spoke to reporters in an early evening press conference following the state legislatures neglect to discuss the bill. In a prepared statement, Lamping seemed slightly perturbed at this notion while announcing plans to open up the bidding to all suitors in the St. Louis metro area, consisting of nine surrounding counties, of which include St. Louis City and County and counties across the river in Illinois.

“The Cardinal organization has no choice but to begin exploring alternative locations in the St. Louis area to build a new ballpark,” Lamping told the media gathering at the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame, which is located across the street from Busch Stadium. He further added that it’s clear that “the state is not interested in helping the Cardinals in downtown St. Louis.”

Also, Lamping told the throng that the Cardinals have ordered HOK Sport, the Kansas city-based architectural and design firm working on the project to suspend all operation on this current stadium plan and to open up a request for proposals from interested suitors from the bi-state region.

He also stated that the Cardinals have notified Major League Baseball (MLB) of their decision of withdrawing their names for consideration for the 2006 All-Star Game at the new digs. He then qualified that statement by saying that Cardinals still intended to host the game, but in a “new ballpark open somewhere” in 2006. In other words, he asked MLB to hold firm with the notion of having the game in St. Louis, but it will not be in Busch Stadium.

Well then, what are the Cardinals alternatives?

The organization has met with officials from East St. Louis, Ill., a small city across the river from downtown St. Louis and St. Peters, Mo., a community some 25 miles west of the city. Both cities will more than likely offer sweet heart deals that will offer something that I mentioned before: a break from the 12% ticket tax the team currently operates under.

Other cities and municipalities are sure to make a pitch for the ball club, but one thing people need to keep in mind: the city of St. Louis is NOT out of the running, the bidding is just now open to others and they will not receive any money from the state should they stay in the city, as in the State Bill 1279 offered.

No matter — the Cardinals are steel in their resolve about this issue. They want a new facility built and completed by 2006. Cardinals’ co-owner and Chairman Fred Hanser reiterated the same point to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “We are resolute about our goals and we will achieve them,” he noted.

(Writer’s Rant II…again, purely opinion; read at your own risk!!)

This whole thing really bothers me. Would I have liked the bill to be passed? Sure, it would’ve been nice to have a new park in time for 2006, with or without Bud Selig’s “award” for getting the facility done on time (You know I’d have to mention Bud somewhere, right?). I didn’t like its location, because frankly, it stunk to high heaven. It would’ve abutted a major interstate for crying out loud and would’ve been a logistical nightmare to relocate an entrance ramp (Missouri is also suffering from highway funding problems, too). And, to be honest, the whole Village idea didn’t make sense.

The other thing that eats at my craw is the state and the city are screwing the Cardinals. The state offered that sweetheart deal to the then-Los Angeles Rams to come here and ignored a franchise that has been firmly implanted in the community for a now 110 years. That whole issue casts a dark cloud over this bill and unfairly influenced the legislatures mind in providing any sort of funding at all. Keep in mind, I believe that the Cardinals should foot the vast majority of the bill, but a small cash infusion from the state wouldn’t have hurt. It certainly didn’t hurt the folks in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, which somehow commandeered money for TWO facilities, never mind one.

As for the city, get rid of that ridiculous 12% tax on tickets. Not only do the Cardinals get screwed on the whole law, but the Blues and ANY concert or event that takes place within city limits does, too. How is a team or club supposed to operate on a level playing field with this tax implemented? It’s like giving them money and then saying, ‘Well, we hope you enjoyed your phantom income . . . we want it back now!’ Give me a break.

(Rant over)

And with that, let the bidding begin!