Turns Out St. Louis Was Right to Reject Public Financing for a Soccer Stadium

[TexasTowelie]

"Get off your ass." That was the message delivered by Dave Peacock to the crowd of soccer fans and investors gathered in a hotel ballroom in April 2017, mere minutes after St. Louis voters conclusively rejected a proposal to funnel $60 million in public funds to a stadium for a professional soccer team.

Peacock, a partner in the project rejected by voters, seemed to target those opposed to the tax giveaway as naysayers to the very concept of progress.

"It doesn’t have to be soccer," Peacock said at the time. "It could be whatever you want. But to me, people sit on the sidelines, chirp and bitch, and they don’t do anything."

In a way, St. Louis listened to Peacock's advice, though perhaps not in the manner he had intended. On Tuesday, a new ownership group announced plans to build a $250 million soccer stadium on the same site featured in the failed 2017 bid, land just west of Union Station in downtown. This time, the proposal includes no public funding — and no Dave Peacock.

Read more: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2018/10/10/turns-out-st-louis-was-right-to-reject-public-financing-for-a-soccer-stadium