Cards' downtown stadium process takes step forward

ST. LOUIS -- What officials say is a long and involved process to build a privately financed replacement for Busch Stadium had a formal beginning Tuesday, as the Cardinals sought city designation as the redeveloper of a section of downtown where the team wants to build a new home.

"This is a very important action ...," said Cardinals President Mark Lamping. "But it's just a first step of many steps we need to follow."

Meanwhile, a pair of bills facilitating the plan -- including a measure to eliminate the 5 percent amusement tax on ticket sales -- were introduced into the city's Board of Alderman, and will receive a first reading on Friday, said Mayor Francis Slay.

Tuesday's actions follow the release last week of details from weeks of negotiations, between the Cardinals, the city and several outside parties, aimed at finding a way to keep the team in St. Louis, its home since the club's founding in 1892.

Those talks began after a plan to build a $346 million ballpark, mostly with public money, failed in earlier this year, when the state Legislature adjourned without taking a vote to approve its share of the deal.

"This demonstrates the parties are here, interested and moving forward," Slay said about Tuesday's actions.

Lamping has repeatedly said the Cardinals' owners have decided to replace Busch Stadium and although their preference for a new park is in the city's downtown, they will move outside of the city rather than remain in the old stadium, which opened in 1966.

The team's recent efforts at selecting an alternative have focused on Illinois. Last week, Lamping said he and Illinois Gov. George Ryan were close to completing a draft agreement on public financing for an Illinois ballpark.

Lamping, who last week called the private financing plan outlined by Slay "intriguing," said Tuesday the Cardinals see no great problems with what's been proposed.

"But it has to become real," Lamping said. "It can't just be, 'Hey, here's what we're thinking about doing.' We've been down that road once."

Among the items remaining before the deal can be called complete: Approval of the amusement tax reduction, securing private financing, finding a developer to build the stadium, and getting help from the state for infrastructure improvements, which have an estimated cost of between $40 million and $45 million.

"There are quite a number of things on the checklist that still have to be accomplished," Slay said. "We know exactly what we have to do."

If the deal goes through, it would be just the second privately developed stadium in baseball since Dodger Stadium opened in 1962. The other, Pac Bell Park in San Francisco, opened in 2000.