FleishmanHillard is drawing up PR plays for a state-backed effort to keep the NFL's Rams in St. Louis.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on Nov. 5 created a task force to study options over the next 60 days for inking a long-term deal with the team, which is now on a year-to-year lease to play at the Edward Jones Dome after talks with St. Louis' regional sports authority over $700M in renovations to the public-owned stadium broke down.
The Rams, owned by reticent Missouri billionaire Stan Kroenke, are reportedly exploring a move to Los Angeles.
Nixon tapped ex-Anheuser-Busch president David Peacock and attorney Robert Blitz to head the task force. FH, which is based in St. Louis, is working the PR front for the effort. Veteran sports PR exec and FH senior VP and partner Jim Woodcock is leading the PR effort for FH. Woodcock previously repped Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, who tried to buy the Rams in 2010 but lost out to Kroenke. Anheuser Busch is a longtime client of FH.
Peacock handled A-B's NFL dealings, while Blitz, legal counsel to the regional sports, authority, worked the legal front that brought the Rams to St. Louis from L.A. in 1995.
"The economic impact of having an NFL team in St. Louis extends long beyond Sunday afternoon, and sends a clear signal that this city is a worldwide player," the governor said at a press conference Nov. 5.
Missouri, St. Louis, and St. Louis County pay $24M per year to finance the Dome through 2022.
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