Thompson Coburn leads deal that brought One Direction to Edward Jones Dome

If St. Louisans’ ears are still ringing and their daughters still frenzied, blame Bob Wallace. The Thompson Coburn partner represented the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission (CVC) in the 2013 deal that brought the British boy band One Direction to St. Louis on Aug. 27.
 
The concert drew a sold-out crowd of 54,000 (mostly female) fans who packed downtown St. Louis to hear hits like “Story of My Life” and “Best Song Ever” and catch a glimpse of Harry Styles’ gravity-defying locks.
 
The show was also notable because it was the first stadium concert held at the Edward Jones Dome in more than a decade. National touring acts like U2, the Rolling Stones, and N’Sync had all played at the Dome since its opening in 1995. The CVC wanted to recapture the prominence of that heyday with the One Direction show, produced by Live Nation, CVC Senior Vice President Marty Brooks told the St. Louis Business Journal.
 
To negotiate the deal, Brooks turned to Wallace, who spent 16 years as executive vice president and general counsel for the St. Louis Rams and knows every corner of the Dome. The Rams’ preseason was a major consideration in negotiating the contract, Wallace said.
 
“One Direction requires a lot of move-in and move-out time for all the equipment needed for its massive stage show,” he said. “And the concert date was right in the middle of the Rams’ preseason, so it was a question of getting the Rams’ clearance to have them at the Dome.” In fact, the Rams scheduled around the boy band by playing its first two preseason games at home, and scheduling the last two games in Cleveland and Miami.