St. Louis Rams stadium controversy to come to blows in January

After spending most of the 2012 NFL season on pause, the St. Louis Rams' stadium negotiations with the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission will finally be sent to arbitration on January 14, according to a report from Jim Thomas at the Post-Dispatch. The hearing will definitely give us more information about the fate of the maligned Edward Jones Dome, and it'll probably tell us more about the fate of pro football in St. Louis, at least until we finally get an XFL team.

This is the way the controversy ends—not with a move to Los Angeles but an arbitration hearing. Whether the Rams leave St. Louis or not, the next year or so is likely to play out in this distended, gawky way. I'm not as confident as some are that the Rams are going to end up in St. Louis at the end of the proceedings—public funding of NFL stadiums has distorted the market for them almost beyond recognition, but who in town really wants to foot the bill?—but if they're on their way out, we won't really know for a while.

But now, thanks to the P-D, we at least know the next date we'll not-know something new.