The Edward Jones Dome, home of the St. Louis Rams, was a state-of-the-art facility when it opened in 1995.
Fast forward 16 years, and Dome is struggling to keep up with other NFL stadiums and the commission that oversees the facility faces a deadline to keep the Rams from breaking their lease with the Dome, according to the *St. Louis Post-Dispatch*.
A provision that the Rams placed in the original lease requires that that the Dome be among the top-tier facilities in the National Football League in 2015. A "top-tier" facility is one that's deemed superior to three-quarters of all NFL venues.
The team's lease provision set a Feb. 1, 2012 deadline for the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission to present a financial plan to the Rams. But so far, neither side has discussed what it will take to be compliant with the lease provision.
"No one is losing sight of the lease and the fact that, pretty soon, we've all got to talk," said Bob O'Loughlin, chairman of the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission.
Tom Irwin, the chairman of the St. Louis Regional Convention & Sports Complex Authority, which owns the Edward Jones Dome, told the newspaper that it seemed doable in the 1990s to maintain the Dome's stature.
"When you think of what 'top-tier' meant 15 years ago, it was things like better seats or maybe a newer scoreboard," Irwin said. "But look what's happened in (stadium construction) since then."
Cowboys Stadium in Texas and the New York Giants and New York Jets home at the New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey each cost more than $1 billion to construct.
The Edward Jones Dome was judged at the 10-year mark of the lease as well, but the commission was granted a delay and in 2007 the Rams agreed to waive the "top-tier" certification in exchange for $30 million in improvements.
That could happen again, but the price might be much higher and the commission may have to seek more public funding. That could be a hard sell because the original construction debt is still being paid by local governments.
If a structured agreement for a "top-tier" facility cannot be reached by Feb. 1, the Rams have the right to void the lease agreement and rent the Edward Jones Dome on a season-to-season basis.
