ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI)– Fox 2 can now give you exclusive details about the secret Rams counter-offer to upgrade the Edward Jones Dome.
We all find out complete details of the Rams wish list on Monday. That’s when Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster will make all the details public, thanks to a state Sunshine Law request made by Fox 2. But we have a few details of what the Rams want. And they’re sure to raise the roof.
Sources tell Fox 2 News that the biggest part of what the Rams want, involves tearing out the current roof on the dome and installing a retractable roof.
Construction experts have told us in the past that putting in such a roof would be almost impossible without major structural changes to the dome building itself, very expensive changes.
The Dallas Cowboys new stadium has a billion dollar facility with a retractable roof. Experts claim retrofitting an existing building with a retractable roof could cost between $200 and 300 million for the roof itself and other changes to the building.
Sources say we don’t know how much this would actually cost, since the Rams did not include any cost estimates in their proposal.
The Rams lease at the dome says the team is free to leave St. Louis in January 2015 if the dome is not among the top facilities in the National Football League.
The Rams rejected an offer from the Convention and Visitor’s Commission to spend $124 million to upgrade the dome, half from taxpayers, half from the team. The Rams rejected that.
And this is their counter-offer. If the CVC rejects this proposal, which is pretty likely, then both sides go to arbitration June 15th.
A former economist for the St. Louis Federal Reserve tells Fox two that taxpayers spending hundreds of millions for Rams dome upgrades doesn’t make economic sense.
We’ll find out the full details of the Rams proposal when the attorney general makes the information available on Monday.
