ST. LOUIS — St. Louis’ Major League Soccer expansion team will have to wait an extra year to take to the pitch. But the longer runway has its advantages, team ownership said Monday.
“When we really looked at the benefits of postponing a year, they far outweighed the costs. (MLS) made the decision and we respected it. I think overall it was the right decision both for MLS and for the city of St. Louis,” said Carolyn Kindle Betz, CEO of the MLS4TheLou ownership group.
MLS said Friday it has pushed back the inaugural seasons for several of its expansion franchises, including the St. Louis club, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The local team is now set to begin play in MLS 2023, a year later than its original 2022 timeline. The revised expansion timeline, the league said, is a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which it said has affected stadium construction schedules for some of the expansion clubs, as well as business operations.
Unlike in some cities, construction sites in St. Louis were not forced to shut down due to COVID-19 and MLS4TheLou says the franchise's $461 million Downtown West stadium and headquarters development has not faced any delay. However, Kindle Betz said the team did put a pause on hiring in recent months.
“One thing I’m really excited about is we are actually starting to bring back hiring for key executives.” Kindle Betz said.
The Business Journal on Monday spoke with Kindle Betz about the team’s new expansion timeline. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Specifically, for St. Louis and MLS4TheLou, what do you see as some of the benefits to having more time before the team’s first season? I think where you are going to see the benefits is No. 1) We have a longer runway to work with the corporate sponsorships, which is key. No. 2) I think we can do a much better ticket deposit in how we run that and make sure we build up excitement for that. Also, (before) our first season, our stadium will be done. You’ve got the World Cup at the end of 2022. We could potentially have World Cup cup parties and other events, which will give us the opportunity, as I like to say, to sort of break it in before our first season.
What’s the status of construction on the Downtown West stadium development? We’re actually starting to put steel footings in the ground. We’re moving dirt. We are moving along at a great speed. We have been blessed that we still have a Covid-free site. We have not had any instances reported, as of last Friday. Our general contractor and construction partners have been fantastic. We are very grateful that we can continue to move ahead with the construction with the pace we’re at right now.
You mentioned corporate sponsorships. Where are you at in that process? We're reengaging the conversations at a deeper level. We were certainly in touch over the last months, but we had to be very thoughtful about the situation that every corporation and business were in. We certainly wanted to maintain relationships, keep them up to speed as much as we could. Now, we feel like we’re back at a good place to really engage again. We also had quite a few people reach out to us. I think there will hopefully be some really good announcements on the sponsorship front in the next 9-12 months.
Click here for the full interview.
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