St. Louis Sports Online

---

Eric Niederhoffer  St. Louis SportsOnline columnist & principal photographer

KMOX: The Voice of the Cardinals-part 3 21 February 2002

Dateline: Feb 21, St. Louis, KMOX

"The Cardinals and City of St. Louis have struck a deal that involves the splitting of the profits, if the team is ever sold after the new stadium and ballpark village are built. Mayor Slay's chief of staff Jeff Rainford says the City, County, and State would split 10-to-15 percent of the profits were the Cardinals to be sold. Rainford says there is no deal like this with any other sports franchise in the country. Rainford thinks the agreement means the Cardinals are serious about staying in St. Louis. The State still has to give its seal of approval to the proposal."

Has KMOX reached patron saint status for the St. Louis Cardinals?

Let's see what McGraw Milhaven had to say.

"It's the best deal! A no brainer!"

Milhaven addressed a number of issues and I paraphrase them as follows and in no particular order:

• The Cardinals have answered every criticism from the public detractors. What else do you need.
• It's a multimillion dollar work project for downtown St. Louis. (On this point, Milhaven is correct but who benefits from this work project? Will there be any minority owned businesses cashing in on the development?)
• The Cardinals will share any profit from the sale of the team if this
  happens before 10 years plus 1 day.
• It's a 35 year lease, which transfers to any new owners.
• Prices will be held steady at 1999 or 2000 level.
• Naming rights money will go into a fund for covering cost overruns.
• The Cardinals will contribute $130+ million dollars. (But he
  fails to mention that includes the value on the land owned and to be used by the
  Cardinals.)

I have resigned myself to drive to work without the radio on until the new stadium and ballpark village are complete.

go back to Recent Features

go back to St. Louis Sports Online