ST. LOUIS—Mayor Tishaura Jones signaled this week that she would support using some of the city’s share of the settlement with the NFL over the Rams’ departure to fund downtown infrastructure projects.

The city has at least $250 million sitting in an interest-bearing account while the Board of Aldermen investigates how the money should be spent. 


What You Need To Know

  • There is no deadline to spend funds from the city's share of the settlement with the NFL over the Rams' departure for Los Angeles

  • A process governed by the Board of Aldermen has led to hearings on ideas ranging from repairing water mains, boosting salaries for city employees, free or subsidized child care and other proposals

  • A plan suggested by Greater St. Louis Inc. to spend $98 million on downtown sidewalks and streetscapes, along with other projects, will get a board hearing in October

  • St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones has said previously that she wanted the city to consider ideas with a generational impact but said Tuesday it was not mutually exclusive from using some of the proceeds to address more immediate needs

Through a public engagement process that included submissions of ideas and voting, the Board has held public hearings on several of the leading ideas, including the replacement of water mains and boosting city employee salaries, establishing a revolving loan fund and free or subsidized child care.


An Oct. 8 hearing will address Greater St. Louis, Inc.’s request to use $98 million on downtown infrastructure projects. It has also proposed using $130 million on neighborhoods in North and South St. Louis.

On Tuesday, Jones, who has said she wants a focus on generational investments with the settlement money, said there’s also room to also address more immediate concerns.

“This is an unprecedented opportunity at our city’s shoulders and there are a ton of possibilities to be able to save some, to be able to use that for generational investments and to be able to spend some on investments that we need right now so I don’t think that those two are mutually exclusive,” she said when asked about the Greater St. Louis Inc. proposal. 

Our news partners at the St. Louis Business Journal report that Stifel CEO Ronald Kruszewski said the city would be sending a message to the downtown community if it doesn’t invest part of the money in that area, and that as a result, the company could look to redirect jobs to other markets instead of its headquarters in St. Louis.

Greater St. Louis, Inc. says the downtown area generates more than 19% of the city’s revenue, but only gets five% in annual General Fund expenditures.

The organization’s CEO, Jason Hall, said downtown was harmed by the Rams’ departure and needs help.

“Look at the streetscape in downtown St. Louis compared to others. Look at the sidewalk infrastructure. Look at the lighting infrastructure. This is the connective tissue that actually helps create community, a sense of safety in downtown and makes it more pedestrian-friendly,” he said. ”The future is going to be as mixed-use residential neighborhoods. There’s gonna be business, there’s gonna be entertainment and there’s gonna be residential. We have got to shore up that infrastructure. That’s front and center in this proposal.”

“If you don’t bring jobs to downtown, it’s going to be real hard to keep residents here in downtown.”

Hall says in combination with other federal streams sources, it’s possible to have as much as even a billion dollars in funding for its proposal.

There is no deadline to spend the money from the NFL settlement.