urbanSTL

TheWayoftheArch wrote:Other than the childhood anecdote..and I'm glad you enjoyed it, I have to wonder why you even bothered with that post.

uninterested

no opinion.



Thanks for the update.

Heh, point taken and FWIW, I let one of my buddies know about the prospects for a team and he was very interested.

innov8ion wrote:
However, I couldn't care less about Beckham and his quest for riches in America. It may cause a minor spike initially, but it will wear off.

Being an entirely disinterested party, you of course are eminently qualified to opine on the level of interest that others would have.



Unless, of course, your double negative was coy subtlety.

Let's hope so.

Found this on a possible STL team: (dated Feb 2.)

Midwest Group Negotiating To Purchase Team

A St. Louis group hoping to move Real Salt Lake to the Midwest says they're fairly deep into negotiations to purchase the team. Jeff Cooper, Managing Partner of Simmons Cooper - the potential ownership group - says negotiations are at a point they could potentially be wrapped up within a week.

Cooper says if he's able to buy the team, he has three municipalities in the St. Louis area competing to partner with his group to provide public funding for a stadium similar to the deal nixed by Salt Lake County.



Cooper says he's reluctant to put any odds on whether he'll be able to close a deal to purchase Real Salt Lake.



Listen to Bryan Schott interveiw Jeff Cooper -

http://www.kcpw.org/article/2847



and another article with more quotes



http://www.soccer365.com/US_NEWS/Nation ... 6268.shtml

looks like we wont get salt lake's team...





http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp ... &fext=.jsp



Real Salt Lake's rollercoaster ride toward a soccer-specific stadium is coming to a successful end, as the Utah House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve $35 million toward the project.



The measure passed the House by a 48-24 margin two days after the Senate approved it with a 20-8 vote. With Gov. Jon Huntsman serving as one of the primary backers of the bill, his signature is seen as a formality.



The governor, along with RSL owner David W. Checketts and legislative leaders, announced the bill's passage Thursday evening at the State Capitol.



Checketts invoked American Revolution pamphleteer Thomas Paine in his remarks at the press conference.



"This really is a dream," Checketts said. "Thomas Paine, the great early American writer, said 'That which we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly.' Well, this has come at great, great cost, but what a blessed event it is for our family, for my partners and for everyone associated with our organization."



The bill provides $20 million from the state's Transient Room Tax to build a parking structure in the South Towne Expo Center. That funding was originally set aside in 2005. An additional $15 million will be given for the purchase of land and public infrastructure.



"All of us at Major League Soccer would like to sincerely thank Governor Huntsman and the Utah state legislature for their support of soccer in the Salt Lake City area," said MLS commissioner Don Garber. "The new stadium will be a world-class venue that will host countless memorable soccer moments, provide a key meeting place for the community, and shed an international spotlight on the region."



The stadium deal's closure comes after myriad setbacks that nearly killed it completely. Two weeks ago, it seemed as if Salt Lake County's Debt Review Committee had delivered the dagger to the heart, recommending by a 4-0 vote for County Mayor Peter Corroon to deny RSL the stadium funding they needed. Corroon followed the committee's recommendation, saying the project didn't make financial sense.



Last August, a week of meetings amongst Checketts, Huntsman, Corroon, state house speaker Greg Curtis, Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson and Sandy city mayor Tom Dolan saved the stadium plan after Checketts had said he would sell the club to an out-of-state investor if a funding plan was not in place by the time Real Madrid played RSL on Aug. 12.



After the principles reached an 11th-hour agreement, the club broke ground the day of the Madrid-RSL match, with Madrid players like David Beckham helping turn over the first shovels-full of dirt.



Checketts admitted he nearly gave up hope following Corroon's decision last week.



"In all honesty, last Monday morning when I hung up the phone I truly thought soccer was dead and the project was dead," he said. "It was clear at that time that it was time to move on."



Rumors were rampant about an impending sale of the team. Anderson Development offered to either buy the team or help it build a stadium in Utah County, a deal Checketts declined.



This week, Checketts said, he was close to selling the team to a group that would have moved it to St. Louis. Checketts also owns the St. Louis Blues hockey team.



"We received a very attractive offer from Jeff Cooper and his group in St. Louis," Checketts said. "It was a viable offer and a viable city, and we have a significant business interest there.



"Today I stand here with great gentlemen, great leaders, unified in one common goal, and that is to make Real Salt Lake something this community owns and is truly proud of."



Checketts has previously said he wants to open RSL's new stadium on July 4, 2008 with a game against Real Madrid. The team will play at Rice-Eccles Stadium for the 2007 season.

the main reason i feel that a stadium should be in the city and as close to downtown as possible, is because that is where the other stadiums are and it sure as heck works for them, fans from anywhere in the St. Louis area are used to going downtown to see games, St. Louis is not like other cities where all the stadiums are in the suburbs, and that is a good thing, a soccer team should follow the Cards, Rams, Blues example, especially now that all these projects are under construction creating more places to live and more things to do downtown



also, if MLS is so obsessed with having a whole complex (why?, i don't know), is it completely out of the question to have the stadium in the city and the complex in the suburbs

They don't require a giant complex of soccer fields as far as the eye can see. Check out what was approved in Salt Lake for their team. No masses of fields. Actually looks like a cool place with retail and a food court type area next to the stadium. Something like that would rock near downtown.



http://web.mlsnet.com/gallery/index.jsp ... &year=2007



Sorry, I don't know how to reduce the size of the link.

I think there probably are a lot of fields around the Salt Lake complex. I wish this would work in the city somewhere (there really is a ton a land along Manchester and the railroad corridor - and what about the Pruitt-Igoe site?). A commentator on NPR yesterday was remarking on rediculously misplaced soccer marketing has been in the US. That is, targeting upper middle class white families. It's an urban sport in the rest of the world and marketing to hispanics, african americans, other immigrants (italians-bosnians-greeks-etc. in StL) would just make sense. Too bad the old site of the arena wasn't used for stadium and a couple fields.

Grover wrote:Too bad the old site of the arena wasn't used for stadium and a couple fields.

Oooh, don't get me started on the Arena site.

Grover wrote:.. A commentator on NPR yesterday was remarking on rediculously misplaced soccer marketing has been in the US. That is, targeting upper middle class white families. It's an urban sport in the rest of the world and marketing to hispanics, african americans, other immigrants (italians-bosnians-greeks-etc. in StL) would just make sense.

Well put, Grover. But you know what this is about -- the advertisers and sponsors want to chase consumers that they perceive have income to spend -- thus the focus on suburban White upper-middle class families.



Even baseball, "America's Pasttime", has increasingly been marketed to families and to upper-class patrons. True, it is the one popular American sport where players are punished and publically chastized for rudeness, grandstanding, etc--unlike basketball and football. (So in that respect it is actually family-friendly.) But it's also supposed to be the sport of the people, and a look around today's stadiums reveals an increasingly upper class group of spectators.

BGeldy wrote:Oooh, don't get me started on the Arena site.

No kidding. Soon, they'll have to start paying people beyond typical incentives to live in one of the lofts at The Highlands.

ThreeOneFour wrote:

BGeldy wrote:Oooh, don't get me started on the Arena site.

No kidding. Soon, they'll have to start paying people beyond typical incentives to live in one of the lofts at The Highlands.

You mean the "lofts" at the Highlands.

Collinsville, investor plan to hire consultant for advice on stadium

By Shane Graber

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

02/15/2007



COLLINSVILLE — A prominent area lawyer and this city plan to hire a consultant to determine whether a 20,000-seat outdoor stadium is a good fit here, officials said Wednesday.



Economics Research Associates, an international consulting firm that specializes in the entertainment industry, will look at whether a stadium here can pay for itself.



The city and East Alton attorney and investor Jeff Cooper expect to spend $75,000 on the consultant. The two would split the bill.



The stadium would host concerts and other special events, and it would be home to a professional soccer team. City officials think the most likely site is at the southwest section of the intersection of Interstate 255 and Horseshoe Lake Road.



Officials want a stadium plan that won't cost city taxpayers anything, said Paul Mann, the city's community development director.



"We don't want to put the city's coffers at stake," Mann said. He said the city hopes the stadium would pay for itself through concessions, parking and other revenue. "We don't want anything from the general fund to go toward this."



Mann said consultants ideally would find new revenue streams officials haven't yet considered.



Cooper is working with the city on bringing the stadium to town. Cooper, who wasn't available for comment, recently tried to buy Real Salt Lake, a Major League Soccer team in Salt Lake City, and move it here.



Economics Research Associates did consulting work for building a stadium there, too. The firm said it would be a bad public investment and cost taxpayers too much, according to news articles. But the Utah Legislature approved a $35 million financing package that kept the team in Salt Lake City.



Still, Cooper has vowed to bring professional soccer to the St. Louis area by next year. Cooper thinks there is enough time to get a stadium built for that season.



Major League Soccer has 13 teams and hopes to add three more during the next several seasons.



A recent Major League Soccer study determined that the St. Louis area could support a professional team.



If the city decides the stadium is feasible, it will put out requests for proposals for other development ideas around the stadium, Mann said.



sgraber@post-dispatch.com | 618-659-3639

^ hire a consultant? Why not just ask us? It's a dumb idea. Put the stadium on the east riverfront - or better yet, in St. Louis City.

Tysalpha wrote:

ThreeOneFour wrote:

BGeldy wrote:Oooh, don't get me started on the Arena site.

No kidding. Soon, they'll have to start paying people beyond typical incentives to live in one of the lofts at The Highlands.

You mean the "lofts" at the Highlands.

Damn- I knew I forgot something!

^

If they marketed those purely as short term stay hotel/lofts...I think it would work much better. Otherwise, I can't imagine anyone making a lifestyle choice to live there.



And I can think of worse places to put a stadium, but I still think it needs to be even more centrally located. Putting a Stadium in St. Charles or Collinsville essentially cuts off about half of the areas population from being regular patrons/attendees.



I think you could do an east riverfront placement, and still get people from St. Louis County. Or do a location in the central core of the city, and you'd get both sides of the river.

TheWayoftheArch wrote:STL Meth

My favorite.



I still think we should name the team after St. Louis native Redd Foxx - the STL Redd Foxxes.