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At a time when Oakland won’t be submitting one at all, St. Louis has submitted one a day early.

Via Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times, St. Louis has filed its final offer with the NFL’s Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities. The deadline for the three cities who are faced with losing their NFL teams arrives on December 30.

The proposal likely will reflect the terms approved earlier this month by the St. Louis Board of Alderman, a package that includes $150 million in money from the city, more from the state, and an extra $100 million from the league that was wink-nod promised by two members of the league’s L.A. Committee.

The league has bristled at the presumption that another $100 million will come from private contributions, but if the owners are going to keep the Rams in St. Louis, someone will have to come up with the extra cash. Unless 24 owners vote to allow owner Stan Kroenke to move the team, that’s what will have to happen, if a new stadium is going to be built in St. Louis.

A vote (or, more likely, a series of them) on potential relocation is expected on January 13. No one knows what will happen, but future efforts to build stadiums with public money will be undermined if the NFL refuses to move forward with the proposal St. Louis has provided, since St. Louis is willing to make a major contribution of taxpayer funds at a time when few communities are inclined to do it.

Other communities will be even less inclined to do it if the NFL tells St. Louis politicians, “Thanks for trying. It’s not good enough. See ya.”