Dive Brief:

• St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke and the city of Inglewood, CA, will start construction on a $1.86 billion stadium in the city no matter what the NFL’s decision regarding Kroenke’s request to relocate the Rams to Los Angeles, according to CBS Sports. However, according to a CBS St. Louis report, Inglewood Mayor James Butts said, "There is no certainty that it will be built if there is no go ahead for relocation of a team or two teams there." The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders have also requested relocation to the Los Angeles area.
• Butts conceded that if the NFL does not approve the Rams for relocation, and if Kroenke goes ahead with his plans to build the facility anyway, the stadium could host other events, CBS Sports reported. Surrounding the stadium would also be retail, entertainment and residential components, according to CBS St. Louis. Butts told CBS St. Louis that rumors of such a development have already increased Inglewood property values.
• The NFL will make its decision on relocation next week but could also put it off until 2017. If that’s the case and Kroenke goes forward with stadium construction in Inglewood, according to CBS Sports, his chances of securing approval to move the team rise significantly. Carson, CA, is also being considered as a relocation city.

Dive Insight:

Somewhat lost in the discussion of the possible Rams relocation is the extensive stadium plan St. Louis has proposed to persuade Kroenke to stay in the city.

Part of the Rams contract with the city requires the stadium to be "top-tier" and superior to three-quarters of all NFL stadiums in 2015, or the team could break the lease. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, it is the consensus that the current stadium does not meet those standards, and city officials have spent the better part of a year entertaining various plans for a new stadium.

After much debate, St. Louis approved a stadium financing plan in December. The $1.1 billion stadium plan also includes a unique minority participation component that local activists call "transformative." The plan requires 25% minority participation, loan guarantees, administrative assistance, expedited payments to minority, women and veteran-owned businesses and the creation of an electronic database of minority workers to be used on future public projects.

Playing beat the clock, unions even came onboard with the city’s expedited construction plans and agreed to work round-the-clock in three eight-hour shifts to eliminate overtime costs.