Dome Has Future Potential, But Not for MLS

Date Posted: January 3, 2017

Posted In: Ideas,

From St. Louis Post-Dispatch:  St. Louis Visitors and Convention Commission President Kitty Ratcliffe is tired of the question, “What are you doing with that empty Dome downtown?”

“This is an industry where if you don’t work downtown and see the people here, you would think it was empty,” Ratcliffe said. “I get so many questions about ‘the empty Dome,’ but it’s not empty.”

The Rams of the National Football League, the biggest annual draw to the 67,000-seat Dome, are gone. But annually from Feb. 1 through July 31, the facility enjoys a 76 percent occupancy for events, including the days it’s reserved for setting up and taking down equipment, according to Visitors and Convention Commission data.

Public interest in the facility’s future has increased as private investors look to bring Major League Soccer to the city — if they can secure $120 million in state tax credits and city tax dollars for a $200 million stadium west of Union Station.

Some local die-hard soccer fans and St. Louis taxpayers who could vote on $80 million in new taxes for the stadium in April want to know why the Dome isn’t in the discussion.

Ratcliffe said it would cost hundreds of millions more to retrofit it for professional soccer. Artificial turf is essentially a non-starter for the league, and installing grass would require removing the roof and rebuilding the deep concrete surface beneath the playing area to include drainage and irrigation systems.

“Anything is possible, but does it make financial sense to do that?” Ratcliffe said.

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