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Rams

Boring! CVC Fumbles Proposal for Dome

By Chad Garrison Thu., Feb. 2 2012 at 9:23 AM

Categories: Rams

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The expression "lipstick on a pig" comes to mind.

If the negotiations to keep the Rams in St. Louis were a football game, it would be late in the fourth quarter with under two minutes to play. St. Louis would be trailing by a touchdown and starting out on its own 10-yard line.

So, what would make the most sense on that first play of the drive? A bomb down the field to a breaking receiver? Or a hand-off to the running back?

Yesterday St. Louis received the latter -- a feeble hand-off that barely moved the ball forward -- when the St. Louis Convention and Visitor's Commission (and city and county officials) announced a lackluster proposal to upgrade the Edward Jones Dome.

The best part of the $124 million proposal calls for hanging a JumboTron (below) from the ceiling of the dome, not unlike the state-of-the-art scoreboard unveiled a few years back in Dallas.

But even that addition is somewhat flawed because in hanging that giant scoreboard from the roof, the CVC ignores the biggest fault with the dome -- the fact that it has a roof.

In interviews yesterday, CVC President Kathleen "Kitty" Ratcliffe said that making the dome an open-air stadium just isn't feasible as the interior the building wasn't constructed to drain water. "The players would be swimming, not running," she said.

Umm, okay. But how about a retractable roof? Again, let's look at Cowboys Stadium. Its retractable roof opens over an area directly above the field, leaving the stands covered by a permanent ceiling. You might compare it to a car equipped with a sunroof as opposed to a full-blown convertible. And you got to wonder, why couldn't Edward Jones Dome have the same?

Retractable roof or not, the underlying issue is that the Edward Jones Dome is too damn dark inside. (Like playing football in your parents' basement when mom is screaming at you to get the hell-out-da-house because it's sunny and 75 degrees outside.) To improve this, CVC has proposed putting in more windows along the side of the building. We love how the rendering below highlights the rays of sun kissing the field.

Windows are fine. But if you can't cut off the dome's roof or install a retractable one, why not put skylights in the roof to get even more sun inside the stadium? Or how about this:

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Tags:

Convention and Visitors Commission, Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis, St. Louis Rams, Stan Kroenke

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Excellent points... with the key point being more natural light is needed..... The expansion of the club seats is a worthless idea given that the club seats are half empty on average anyways I think every dollar should go towards more light inside the stadium... even if that costs $200 mil.... spend more to get it right than to once again spend 75% of what's needed which resulted in a stadium that is bottom 5% Remember that the Houston Texans stadium was built only a couple years after the dome at a cost of only $90 mil more than the dome, and its WAY BETTTER still today... Pay up to do it right!
If football was meant to be played outside, retrofit Busch. Sell the dome or use it to bring in the revenue spent on a losing team.
No, we can't go back in time and build a better dome. Sorry. When the dome was built it was "on the cheap". Nothin' fancy, no options, because the area governments weren't able to pay for more. Some segments of the public screamed bloody murder about the cost anyway. Who would have thought we would actually be poorer now that we were back then?
Ha ha ha! No, I'm not Fred Lindecke. In fact I must admit that my name isn't even Fred. Just a guy who spent many years as an architect. I support anything that would keep the Rams here, as long as the Walmart billionaire pays his fair share and the structure doesn't try to defy gravity.
Why the hell didn't they built it with a retractable roof in the first place? And why the hell did they make the inside of the roof BLACK! THIS is what we got for umpteen million bucks?! Jeez Louise, any bozo who's ever watched a few shows on HGTV knows that when there's not much natural light coming in, you have to compensate with lots of good artificial light and LIGHT colors - unless you're trying to go for that dungeon ambience. Gawd, was EVERYONE involved in bringing the Rams here and building a venue a moron?
They even said there is no drainage built into the structure. The mitigation process must be rather extensive.
I figured this would be the depth of the response I get.
I think you have Fascism and Communism confused...
"The current structure was designed to support itself and nothing more." Adding the "jumbo tron" on that roof will also decrease the load that has been used in the past to rig shows in that dome that use more days on the calender then the rams.
"The current structure was designed to support itself and nothing more." Adding the "jumbo tron" on that roof will also decrease the load that has been used in the past to rig shows in that dome that use more days on the calender then the rams.
Say what you want St. Louis. 1st Pujols comes to the Big show and now our Rams are coming home. Go get the Jags.
When you give your money freely to someone, a social agency, etc. that's called CHARITY When your money is taken from you by Government and dispensed back to you in the form of services, even though those services are dispensed unevenly, unjustly and poorly that's called SOCIALISM When your money is taken from you by Government and given to Corporations and individuals that's called COMMUNISM
RUDE!
I've been to one Rams game. Hated it. It was a gorgeous September day but i had to spend the three hours inside. It was awful (not to mention they lost). I've been to many Chiefs games. Love it each time, rain, shine or cold. Football was made to be played outside. Plain and simple. Put in a retractable roof, add some provisions for drainage and call it done. How hard is that?
For the last time, you cannot take the roof off the place! it wasn't made to be in the elements. And, the roof is not made out of fabric, its made out of steel. To me personally, this is a good start. And for the author, you are a dumbass get your facts straight first.
Wow - when did "responsible journalism" give way to "20 year old disgruntled forum poster?" If you'd take time to understand the proposal and the facts around it - you'd realize that it's a pretty decent proposal. If I were you - I'd probably think about going back to bussing tables. Man - the RFT has slipped.
Mr. Lindecke, I presume? While I appreciate your dogged efforts over the years to stop public funding for professional sports, to think this proposal will keep the Rams in St. Louis is absurd. And to think the CVC has something better up its sleeve is as naive as my suggestions that they open the roof.
Why not contract the dome out to the next production of a Batman movie where pyrotechnics are used to bring down the entire building? It would be awesome and much more entertaining than watching a bunch of jailbait black criminals.
Retrofitting a retractable roof is pretty much out of the question but I don't think it's outside the realm of reality or their budget to replace it with a translucent material. Do they really think putting in thin windows is a viable selling point much less effective? And removing cheap seats to add suites and club seats to one of the most expensive (to fans and attendees) homes to one of the most consistently losing teams? This proposal is more than boring, it's insulting.
Fred, you nailed it. As an engineer, I have tried to explain this retractable roof nonsense to damn near everyone and most still don't understand. I guess that math, science and the fucking laws of physics are too hard for most folks to grasp. The CVC has done some surprisingly solid work here, it won't be enough to seal the deal but at least it is fair enough to get the conversation started and that was the goal with this proposal.
Anyone proposing a retractable roof for the Jones is totally ignorant of architecture and engineering. The current structure was designed to support itself and nothing more. It is unable to accept the loads that would result from such modifications. The whole building would need to come down and be replaced, or an entire new support structure would have to be built around the "Dome" to support the new roof. We know that's not happening. Please come back to reality. Also, it would be wise to remember that this is a negotiation. Why would the CVC put their best possible offer on the table as an opening move?
Pujols for the Rams, LA. Straight up.
Hmmm. Yes the lack of sun is real problem in EJD. But I suspect the Rams already have a solution for that problem. Move to LA!
Sad. Good by Rams. Say hello to LA!
"Mom always said, don't play ball in the house" ... And hey, is the Dome even tall enough to accommodate one of those hanging jumbo-trons? Can you play it off the jumbo-tron? That would make for some interesting trick plays.