After Missouri Governor-elect Eric Greitens called public funding for stadiums "welfare for millionaires", the bill pledging $80 million in public funds for a soccer stadium in St. Louis seemed like a long shot. Now, the bill is officially dead.
This takes St. Louis out of the running for an MLS team, unless an invesment group wants to pay for an entire stadium themselves (they don't), or find some other way for the city to make back taxpayer contributions to the stadium. With the MLS looking to expand quickly, candidates that already have stadiums or have secured financing will have the advantage.
Cincinnati FC seemed particularly broken up about the news.
Now that we've got our @fccincinnati player signing news out of the way, let's get an update from St. Louis on their MLS stadium: pic.twitter.com/IogFn7SCuZ
— Queen City War Pigs (@CincinnatiFC) January 6, 2017