Cardinals agree to share profits if team is sold

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals agreed Wednesday to share up to 15 percent of the profits from the sale of the team with the public, if the city, county and state agree to help build the club a new stadium, the mayor's chief of staff said.

"The public participants are going to get a percentage of the owners' profits," said Jeff Rainford.

Rainford said public officials and the club were still working out the legal language of the profit-sharing arrangement, which will be part of a "project agreement" that details the deal reached with the Cardinals last year to build a $646 million stadium and neighboring Ballpark Village development.

"We are just days away from the project agreement being finished. All of the major issues are resolved," Rainford said. "At this point, it's really lawyer language we're working over. We have a little bit of language to work out."

The city, state and county would receive 10 percent of profits up to $300 million, 12 percent up to $600 million, or 15 percent of profits over $600 million.

For the team to share in the proceeds of a sale, it must take place in the next 13 years, which covers three years of construction and the 10 years after the park opens.

Other details of the still-to-be-completed project agreement, according to a summary issued Tuesday night by Mayor Francis Slay's office:

The team must pay a $100 million penalty if it fails to complete the first phase of the Ballpark Village, a collection of apartments, retail and commercial space next door to the new stadium. The agreement requires the phase to be "substantially complete" five years after April 1, 2006.

The public authority that will actually own the stadium will also own the naming rights to the facility.

The team will sell a minimum of 6,000 tickets for not more than $12 and the team will give away at least 100,000 tickets a year to youth and charitable organizations.

The stadium will have one luxury suite made available to the public through a lottery or other selection process.