Planning for a $200 million soccer stadium in St. Louis hit a snag when incoming Missouri Governor Eric Greitens opposed public funding of the venue. After Greitens called the project “nothing more than welfare for millionaires,” the city of St. Louis delayed its request to the Missouri Development Finance Board for $40 million in state tax credits, a hearing that was supposed to take place yesterday.
SC STL, the potential ownership group looking to bring a Major League Soccer team to St. Louis, will instead look to meet with Greitens and fully brief him on the project and the benefits it affords the state before moving forward.
Paul Edgerley, chairman of SC STL, said he was disappointed by Greitens’ statement, but respects the difference of opinion. “We continue to believe in the substantial economic and other benefits of this project,” Edgerley said, citing an independent study that determined 400 permanent jobs would be created.