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New video caps week of efforts to keep Rams in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS – Gov. Jay Nixon’s stadium task force released a video Thursday to finish a month that has revisited efforts to keep the Rams in St. Louis.

The video shows the design, layout and amenities of the proposed National Car Rental Field on the Mississippi Riverfront north of downtown. It comes just days after three public hearings held by NFL executives in the three cities of team owners considering relocation to Los Angeles. The Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers have also expressed interest in the second largest television market in the nation.

By all accounts, the hearing at the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis was particularly raucous with ESPN Rams beat reporter Nick Wagoner stating that 1,500 fans of the franchise attended. ESPN’s reporters in San Diego and Oakland said fewer people attended in the other two cities combined (450 in San Diego and 400 in Oakland).

These developments are good news for fans of keeping the franchise, but a bill proposed by a St. Louis alderman last week would seek to put public stadium funding to a public vote. Nixon, Mayor Francis Slay and other proponents of building a new stadium have opposed a public vote using taxpayer funds, a move which has inflamed members of the General Assembly and people across the state outside of St. Louis.