The St. Louis Sports Commission (SLSC) is in talks with NHL franchise St. Louis Blues about the possible upgrading of the city’s Scottrade Center – the current home of the Blues.
SLSC, the nonprofit organisation tasked with developing and maintaining major sports events in the city, is keen to update the 21-year-old Scottrade Center in order to bring it up to modern requirements.
New seating, better broadcasting facilities and the installation of a new heating and ventilation system have already been identified as areas likely to be improved during any development works. The Blues recently invested US$2m (€1.8m, £1.4m) installing arena-wide WiFi accessible by fans.
The discussions are seen as a way to not only secure the future of the Blues in the city, but to also increase the number of major national competitions that SLSC can bid for.
Speaking to the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, SLSC president Frank Viverito said upgrading the 19,150-capacity Scottrade Center was crucial in order for the city to attract major events in the future.
He added that upgrades at other arenas means competition is now tougher for securing rights to major national competitions – such as the US figure skating championships.
“When you draw a circle around St. Louis, you can see almost all the cities we compete against having either a newer or more recently refurbished building,” he said.
“We will always work with what we have, and what we have is good. But the better it can be and the sooner it can be, the better off we are.”
• St. Louis is currently in danger of losing its NFL franchise – the Rams – after the team’s owner Stan Kroenke submitted an official relocation requests to the NFL.
Kroenke is keen to move the Rams to a new stadium in the more lucrative Los Angeles, California market, despite St. Louis city government agreeing to fund and build a new NFL standard venue for the Rams.
Losing the Rams would be a blow to St. Louis as it would leave the city with just two professional sports teams – the Blues and Major League Baseball’s (MLB) St. Louis Cardinals.
