Slay: St. Louis' plan will 'make it difficult for Rams to leave'

After a meeting with a National Football League official last week, St. Louis officials Friday vowed to move forward with a proposed $900 million, 64,000-seat stadium on downtown’s north riverfront by 2020.

The St. Louis Business Journal reports Mayor Francis Slay said former Anheuser Busch President Dave Peacock’s stadium plan would make it difficult for the St. Louis Rams to leave St. Louis. Team owner Stan Kroenke has considered another city and announced plans to build an 80,000-seat stadium in suburban Los Angeles.

During the business journal's annual State of St. Louis event Friday morning, neither Slay nor St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger would say whether an extension of bonds that fund the Edward Jones Dome, for which the municipalities and the state of Missouri still owe more than $100 million, would require a public vote. Under Peacock's plan, extending the bonds would provide $300 million to $350 million in public support for the proposed stadium.  

Read more from the St. Louis Business Journal.