CAPE HOPES TO JOIN RAMS' BANDWAGON

Cape Girardeau is attempting to hop on the St. Louis Rams bandwagon by proposing Southeast Missouri State University as a potential site for the team's 1995 training camp.

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, working with Southeast athletic department officials, have contacted the Rams organization and received details concerning what the team desires in a training facility.

John Mehner, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, said plans to make Cape Girardeau the Rams' summer home are strictly in the "preliminary stages."

The Rams, currently based in Anaheim, Calif., announced in January their intention to relocate in St. Louis. The move is on hold pending formal approval by National Football League owners in March.

Mehner said the chamber contacted former U.S. Sen. Thomas Eagleton, who headed FANS Inc., the group which lured the Rams to St. Louis, and Eagleton in turn put the chamber in touch with Rams officials.

"We plan on putting a proposal together, shooting it off to them and seeing what happens," Mehner said.

Southeast athletic director Richard McDuffie emphasized that it is unknown at this point whether the Rams can be accommodated.

"I just received the information and plan to look it over tomorrow," McDuffie said Thursday. "I'll then call California and see what they want and don't want and see if we have a chance and if they fit into what we want to do."

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale is also said to be interested in hosting the team. Jim Hart, SIU athletic director, could not be reached for comment.

Aside from Southeast's modern NCAA Division I training facilities, Cape Girardeau has other things to offer.

The city's close proximity to St. Louis and easy access via Interstate 55 is a big selling point, Mehner said. Also, daily flights between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau Regional Airport allows for even quicker travel.

Cape Girardeau's position west of the Mississippi also helps, Mehner said.

"We are located in Missouri and Missouri taxpayers are paying for the domed stadium," Mehner said, referring to the new football stadium under construction in downtown St. Louis.

"That gives us an edge over candidates like SIU."

Mehner said another advantage is that Cape Girardeau has a Fox Television Network affiliate, KBSI-TV 23. The Fox network holds the rights to National Football Conference games. The Rams are members of the NFC.

That gives Cape an advantage, he said, because file footage of camp for the network could be shot here by KBSI.

The Rams' basic needs concerning a potential site are for the most part standard to what Division I football programs have.

The requirements include three practice fields, a training room, weight room, meeting rooms that hold at least 100 people and locker rooms. Also needed are facilities to house and feed 80 football players and 35 to 40 staff members.

All are available on the Southeast campus, with the exception of the practice fields, of which the Southeast squad only uses two. However, McDuffie said that a third field located on the future site of Southeast's new business building might be temporarily converted for use this summer if possible.

There is also concern about the Rams' schedule conflicting with that of the Southeast team's schedule.

"Probably the most important question is whether their timetable fits our timetable," McDuffie said. "We bring our guys in around Aug. 8-10. Whether the Rams would be finished by that time I don't know."