St Louis Rams Counter Offer for Edward Jones Dome Revealed Today

The St. Louis Rams plans that were submitted to the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission on May 1 has been revealed by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster.  It can be viewed in full here. 

I have taken a quick look at it,but it will take more time to study to offer detailed insight into the just-released plan.  

The plan, as expected, did not include a price tag.  

An introductory letter to the St. Louis CVC from St. Louis Rams Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Football Operations Kevin Demoff is included. 

It would appear, at first glance, that the counteroffer does not possess a retractable roof in the manner that was presented by Fox 4 last week in this report.  

It appears at first reading that the plan instead has some type of a center roof panel that would slide out to let light in but that much of a new roof would be a fixed structure.  

It will be very interesting to hear the reactions of Rams Nation regarding the release of the Rams counteroffer. 

Once again, the CVC started with a low offer. The Rams started with a bigger offer.  There is absolutely nothing in that regard that should be surprising in the least. 

That is to be expected by anyone with knowledge of these situations in a negotiation of this type.  Very routine in that regard, to say the least.

If the CVC does not agree to the Rams counteroffer by June 1, the Rams and the CVC are scheduled to enter into arbitration on June 15 unless an agreement is reached before that date. 

Keep in mind, that any ruling by an arbitrator that would be agreed upon by the CVC would secure a deal.  Mike Sando offers insight into this process here.  

If this indeed goes to arbitration, which would not be at all surprising, the process could potentially continue into December. 

If the CVC were to reject the ruling by the arbitrator (if it ultimately goes to arbitration), then the Rams could theoretically leave downtown St. Louis for another site in the region or to any location of their choice. 

Another option would be to continue playing at the Edward Jones Dome on a year-to-year lease. 

The Rams continue to honor the confidentiality agreement and will not make a formal statement regarding the release of today's information, as reported here by turfshowtimes.com: 

"

The Rams lease with the CVC requires that on March 1, 2015 the Edward Jones Dome and specified components of the stadium rank among the First Tier of NFL stadiums. First Tier is defined as among the Top 8 NFL stadiums. In accordance with the lease, the Rams submitted on April 30th the Rams 2012 Plans to bring the Edward Jones Dome up to the First Tier standard. The First Tier process and procedure is confidential under the parties' agreements. The Rams will continue to respect those confidentiality obligations and will not comment on the Rams' plans or the process we are following.

"

As clarified in the statement via the Rams, specific components of the stadium must rank as top tier (or among the top eight NFL stadiums in those categories.)

Interestingly, the Rams counteroffer mentions upgrades that could get the Rams up to par for a potential Super Bowl, among other things, as you can read in the Rams full proposal via the link at the top of the article.

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Shane Gray covers the St. Louis Rams daily as a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. You are encouraged to check out the rest of his work here. Gray also owns and operates stlramscentral.com.