The Mobile City Council yesterday took another step toward selling Ladd-Peebles Sports and Entertainment Complex to the Mobile County Public School System (MCPSS) by authorizing an intergovernmental agreement with the school system. The council will consider the official sale of the stadium next week.

Meanwhile, the Mobile County Board of School Commissioners will consider the agreement. The school board will hold a work session on Thursday and an official meeting at 10 a.m. on Monday, June 26.

The intergovernmental agreement allows the city of Mobile to use Ladd-Peebles for certain events even after the stadium comes under the control of the school system, including HBCU football events like the Gulf Coast Challenge.

In addition, as part of the agreement, the city of Mobile will provide $9 million in maintenance and repair costs for the stadium over ten years, in addition to the close to $1 million in expenditures that the council passed last week for the stadium. The school system is purchasing the stadium for a symbolic price of $1.

After much deliberation and an unexpected 10-minute recess, the council passed the original intergovernmental agreement, and not an amended version of the agreement that had been proposed by officials in the school system.