The St Louis Post -Dispatch has a story today regarding a $100 million soccer complex that would be home to a possible MLS franchise:
The Collinsville City Council will hear a presentation from East Alton attorney Jeff Cooper about a 400-acre development project that would include an 18,900-seat stadium, a hotel, at least two restaurants, about 1,000 single-family homes, several youth soccer fields and nearly 500,000 square feet of office and retail space.
Cooper is part of Simmons-Cooper, a law firm that specializes in Mesothelioma and Asbestos litigation and is already very active in soccer. He is primary owner of the River Cities FC women’s league team that Kate Hercules has played for the past two years. He has launched a website associated with the MLS bid as well.
There are also rumors about investments in several of the regional clubs, anticipating participation in the Youth Academy structure. From the STLsoccer.net forum discussion of Merger of STLSC and Gallagher?
The academy will be the new superclub formed by the merger of SG, STLSC, Metro United, and Metro Strikers. This merger is part of the effort to land an MLS team. The MLS requires each of it’s teams to have a youth academy. So far none of the teams have been able to get the top clubs in it’s area to form it’s youth academy. They have had to put one together and consequently their academies are lower tier club teams. St. Louis will be the exception. The superclub will be the youth academy for the MLS team. They will put together a top academy team in the U13 to U19 age groups, boys and girls. I have been told that there will be additional teams in age group but only 1 “academy” team. All of the superclub teams will have neutral, paid coaches. No parents will coach teams after the first year. Kevin Kalish and Tom Howe will run the boys side with Steve Pecher and Scott McDoniel running the girls side. The club fees per player U13-U19 will be $750-$800. This fee does not include anything but the coach and training. The MLS group will be building a facility in Maryland heights and Collinsville for training. Metro United and Metro Strikers will be running the U8-U12 age groups.
This information has been out for some time now. The board of directors of all 4 clubs have approved this merger which should take July 1, 2008. The coaches of teams in the 4 clubs involved should be letting their parents know about this. If you haven’t been told, ask your coach.
If you follow the discussion thread further, you discover it’s not as simple as all this (is it ever?) but given the money Cooper seems to be able to bring to the table, there is as good a chance as you can expect that some sort of super club/youth academy will emerge to solidify the opportunity for an MLS team in the St Louis region. More later 
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