St. Louis judge says no vote needed to use tax money for stadium

Taxpayers in St. Louis might end up partially funding a new NFL stadium for St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, the 77th richest man in America at $6.3 billion according to Forbes, and have almost no say in it.

St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Thomas Frawley ruled that no public vote will be required to build a riverfront stadium for the Rams, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The stadium is expected to cost $998 million, the Post-Dispatch said. The governor's task force broke down the costs for all parties as $250 million from team ownership, a $200 million National Football League loan to the owners, $187 million in tax incentives, $201 million in state and city bond proceeds and $160 million in seat license sales, the report said.

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The ruling was apparently made because it didn't violate a state law that said the building had to be "adjacent" to the convention center. The judge ruled it was close enough to the convention center, the Post-Dispatch reported. St. Louis University law professor John Ammann, who had filed a suit to force a vote on the issue, told the Post-Dispatch it was a “terrible day for democracy.” It is, however, a good day for billionaires asking for the public to prop up their business.

None of this is too surprising. Despite all the breathless reports about the NFL moving to Los Angeles and stadiums being built and that there might be two (!!!) teams in Los Angeles soon, the NFL's goal is always to leverage L.A. to get public money for stadiums. There has been no team in Los Angeles since 1994 and despite constant reports about teams moving there, there has been no real movement on that front in more than two decades. The ruling could move St. Louis closer to building that stadium and keeping the Rams there, although there's question if that's what Kroenke ultimately wants. He seems to like the idea of bringing the Rams to Inglewood, which is just outside of Los Angeles. The NFL is having a meeting near Chicago this month to discuss the issue.

If the judge's ruling ultimately leads to the Rams staying in St. Louis, that will likely be fine with the NFL. That fits the league's strategy for using Los Angeles over the past 21 years.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab