St. Louis Makes Tax Pitch To Keep Cards

St. Louis city officials have fired back in the latest battle to keep the Cardinals in the city. They’re proposing a new, privately financed stadium in downtown that the team would play in for the next 30 years. The real estate finance division of Pitney Bowes would play a major role in the deal. Mayor Francis Slay announced the deal today as officials from Illinois were trying to persuade the Cardinals to move across the Mississippi River. Under the agreement, the Cards would have their tax rate lowered. The team would have to develop two additional blocks of the downtown area and offer at least 6,000 seats a game for no more than $12 each. Slay says he will ask the state for tax credits and other tools to pay for road and other improvements in the area.