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A spokesman for St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said the city will fight to keep the Rams in St. Louis, but only up to a point, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The spokesman made the comments following reports team owner Stan Kroenke closed a Los Angeles-area land deal and plans to build an 80,000-seat NFL stadium there.
"The mayor thinks we should ... not get into a bidding war with Los Angeles," spokesman Jeff Rainford said Monday.
"A National Football League franchise does have value, and we should want one, but let's use some common sense," he added. "The parameters are not a blank check."
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon took a similar stance, per the paper.
"St. Louis is an NFL city and I am committed to keeping it that way," he said in a written statement.
By week's end, Nixon said, he expects to receive a plan "that's consistent with our principles of protecting taxpayers, creating jobs and making significant use of private investment to clean up and revitalize underutilized areas."
The Rams have until Jan. 28 to inform the city if they're converting their lease to a year-by-year arrangement. No team will be allowed to move to the Los Angeles area for the 2015 season, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced recently.
The developers of Kroenke's stadium said it could be finished by 2018.
