St. Louis Sports Commission will use Rams Settlement money to attract more events

SAINT LOUIS, MO (KMOX) - This spring KMOX's Total Information AM told you about a push to use a piece of the city's Rams settlement toward efforts to recruit future sporting events. That's now been finalized. The St. Louis Sports Commission has been given $2.5 million by the Board of Aldermen, signed off by the Mayor, to support its efforts. Commission President Marc Schreiber says premier sporting events bring economic gain and more, "when we have an event like the US Figure Skating Championships or the Frozen Four, or the Men's Basketball Tournament, and what it does to energize our region economically, but also the psyche, the pride it instills."

The Saint Louis Sports Commission is a privately-funded group that's been tasked with bringing big competitions here, since 1989.

Schreiber tells KMOX the seed money will help St. Louis compete with other cities that already leverage public funds to vie for lucrative sporting events. The bid fund will be used to create a sustainable account, for use in bid fees or guarantees for future sporting events. "We dip into that fund, we pull that money out, and then the event comes through, the sales tax revenue generated from that event, a portion of the sales tax revenue, goes back in."

Schreiber says the next bidding deadline for the Commission is August 31st, as it tries to land the 20-31 World Cup of Rugby.

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