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          NFL Nation

          St. Louis stadium financing hearings set for next week

          • Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff WriterNov 3, 2015, 08:00 AM ET
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              Nick Wagoner is an NFL reporter at ESPN. Nick has covered the San Francisco 49ers and the NFL at ESPN since 2016, having previously covered the St. Louis Rams for 12 years, including three years (2013 to 2015) at ESPN. In his 10 years with the company, Nick has led ESPN's coverage of the Niners' 2019 Super Bowl run, Colin Kaepernick's protest, the Rams making Michael Sam the first openly gay player drafted to the NFL, Sam's subsequent pursuit of a roster spot and the team's relocation and stadium saga. You can follow Nick via Twitter @nwagoner
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          EARTH CITY, Mo. -- With the city financing portion of the proposed St. Louis football stadium on the north riverfront still hanging in the balance, the question of whether the plan will become actionable should get some clarity sooner than later.

          According to the St. Louis Business Journal, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen's Ways and Means committee will discuss the proposed stadium financing bill next week.

          The St. Louis stadium task force has been aiming to get a completed financing package (on the public side) done for nearly a year, but the city portion of the financing is the biggest remaining hurdle to that end.

          NFL executive vice president Eric Grubman repeatedly has stated that for a current market's stadium proposal to garner serious consideration, it must be "actionable." In other words, the money has to be lined up to the point that it can be distributed when or if a team agrees to handle the private piece of the plan.

          Getting the city money cleared through the board of aldermen would make the public portion of the St. Louis money actionable. Of course, even if that happens, there's still a big question as to whether an owner or team would provide the rest. But apparently we'll at least have an answer soon on the public side.

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