A task force appointed by Governor Jay Nixon (D) will deliver to him tomorrow a plan on how Missouri could try to keep the Rams NFL team in St. Louis.

St. Louis Rams

St. Louis Rams

Nixon says he stands by the statements he’s made about what he isn’t and isn’t willing to do in that effort.

“Protecting taxpayers, create jobs, making significant use of private investment, and cleaning up and revitalizing underutilized areas is real important,” said Nixon.

“And, there is a value to being an NFL city,” he added.

Nixon says he hasn’t seen detailed information about what might be in the plan he’ll get tomorrow, but he says if a new stadium is built he wants to see the public have ownership of it.

“We think that the best template is for the public to have that ownership so that we control that asset and are able to use it for multiple types of venues for multiple types of events, as you’ve seen with the Sprint Center in Kansas City,” Nixon said.

State House leaders, meanwhile, weighed in on the situation on the first day of the legislative session.

“One of my members said, ‘If you get asked this, tell them you’re going to punt,'” House Speaker John Diehl, Junior (R-Town and Country) joked with reporters.

Clarifying his position, he said, “I think St. Louis is an NFL City. I want the Rams to stay here. We’re not going to get involved in a bidding war in this General Assembly to do that.”

House Minority Leader Jake Hummel (D-St. Louis) says tax dollars should not go into a new stadium.

“It’s problematic at best that we still have, I believe, about seven more years to repay the bonds from the first stadium,” said Hummel. “There’s going to be that possibility that the stadium in downtown St. Louis stays empty while state taxpayers are on the hook.”

Nixon says when that plan is presented to him on Friday he will release it to the media.

Meanwhile Rams owner, Stan Kroenke, appears to be moving forward with a plan to build a new stadium in Los Angles and to move the team there.