Collinsville may develop stadium for MLS expansion team
By Tom Timmermann
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
01/07/2007
Collinsville Mayor Stan Schaeffer acknowledged Saturday that Collinsville is the Metro East site that is under consideration as the potential home of a Major League Soccer franchise in the St. Louis area.
Schaeffer said he was encouraged by a meeting Friday.
"The city and the investment group, the economic development office and our corporate counsel have been crunching numbers,'' he said. "It hasn't looked good to this point, but it's looking better.
"I know it's going slowly, but we would like to have a handle on the ancillary economic development and see if that's adequate enough for us to make a move."
The proposed stadium site is on 200 acres at Horseshoe Lake Road and Interstate 255, just north of Interstates 55-70 and 64. In addition to the MLS stadium, the site would include 20 youth soccer fields. Jeff Cooper, the Alton lawyer who is spearheading the group that has applied for a franchise, also has talked of putting a soccer academy on the site. MLS won't consider granting a franchise to St. Louis until a stadium deal is finalized.
Because of tax laws that allow for the state of Illinois to back bonds for a private project, the Collinsville site has become the leading candidate for the team, but the investment group has declined to disclose the site during the early stages of negotiations.
"I think it's a good enough project to spend time on,'' said Schaeffer, who will discuss the proposal with the city council on Monday. "It could be a boom for us. It's the analogy test. Collinsville is to St. Louis as Foxborough is to Boston. I don't want to get anybody's hopes up, but we are working at it. I know it will be a little rough, but we're giving it a try."
Schaeffer said Collinsville's project group has met with owners of the MLS franchises in Dallas and Chicago, both of which recently built stadiums.
Continue Reading "Collinsville may develop stadium for MLS expansion team" »
