Seg. 5: Bill McDermott, Jim Woodcock and Travis Ford

St. Louis’ “Mr. Soccer” Bill McDermott and global sports co-lead and senior vice president at FleishmanHillard, Jim Woodcock, are both heavily involved with SC STL, the ownership group attempting to build a soccer-specific stadium and bring an MLS team to St. Louis. Woodcock, SC STL’s spokesman, and McDermott both joined The Press Box on Friday to talk with Frank Cusumano about the latest on the group’s efforts. Read some excerpts and listen to the complete interview here: Where do thing stand right now in regards to St. Louis getting an MLS team? Woodcock: “We presented yesterday…the plans that we have right now for the stadium site…the investment by the private sector. The Missouri Developing and Financing Board was very interested in what the stadium could mean for St. Louis and Missouri. They were interested in how Sporting KC’s new stadium has played into the fabric of the Kansas City sports scene. It was a very good meeting. But we’ll learn shortly what the process is going to look like.” Was Kansas City’s MLS stadium publicly financed? Woodcock: “Eighty-eight percent of their stadium was paid for by public funds. In the Midwest, typically the public-private partnerships are the model. Chicago was such, Denver was such, I believe Dallas. From our standpoint, it’s important to remember the private investment right now…is around $280 million…that represents about 67 to 70 percent of the entire investment.” On the private investment: McDermott: “(The $280 million investment) is the best deal ever presented to the league by an ownership group coming into the league as a new team. It’s unheard of for these people to step up and give an astounding gift to the city of St. Louis like this.” Aren’t you worried about the public vote? “We’re going to be communicated the assets and the upside to St. Louis as a whole here. The upside for St. Louis is immense. We wouldn’t be asking for money from the state or city that didn’t have a return that was better than the investment. That would be silly for us to advance a plan where the outcome is a negative. We’re very confident. The plan stands on its own that it’ll complement our culture and way of life.”