Saint Louis Riverfront Stadium: The Maintenance Dimension
Missouri officials say they need a new stadium to keep the Rams. They plan to pay $405 million toward the riverfront stadium by extending existing bonds and offering millions in state tax subsidies. Unfortunately, they do not talk about how that new stadium, along with the teamless dome, will pay for upkeep.
In 2015, the Edward Jones Dome’s maintenance and renovation is $7 million. In the next decade, regular maintenance costs are expected to vary between $7 million and $9 million annually. The upkeep of the dome is paid for by the public, not the Rams or conventions. Approximately $4 million a year comes from the city and county. In addition, the state pays $2 million toward maintenance as part of the deal that originally financed the dome ($10 million for construction debt, $2 million for upkeep and renovation). As the Post-Dispatch reported last year, the dome is in a relatively serious financial hole, and Missouri officials are going to need to find new revenue sources to maintain Saint Louis’ current stadium.
The riverfront stadium plan, unlike the Edward Jones Dome, apparently does not have a revenue stream for its upkeep. However, if costs are anything like the dome’s, the stadium will require at least $5 million to $9 million a year over its useful life. Setting aside the unlikely event of the Rams deciding to cover that cost, Missouri and the Saint Louis region should be preparing to spend at least $125 million in present-value dollars for the upkeep of a new stadium, over and above the initial capital cost.
The additional cost of maintaining a new stadium, and not just its initial cost, makes justifying the project, on economic terms, very difficult. A $405 million upfront cost, plus $125 million for maintenance, far exceeds even rosy projects for the additional tax revenue a stadium might generate. Since the vast majority of economists agree that stadiums do not spur urban regeneration or create economic development, there is only one defense for the new stadium plan: civic pride.
