We Have a Stadium Deal. Now What?

Image via WikipediaBy the 2016 NFL football season, the Minnesota Vikings could be playing in a stadium large enough to swallow its current Metrodome home, and be built for less than a billion dollars.

The Vikings, the state of Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis came to a tentative agreement this week on a proposed $975 million stadium, to be built on the Metrodome's east parking lot.  It would have a fixed roof (though a retractable one is optional), seat 65,000 (though it could also be expanded for big events such as the Super Bowl), and have enough left over for a Vikings Hall of Fame.

Now comes the fun part.  The Minnesota Legislature, the Minneapolis City Council and the NFL have to approve the stadium.  And they have a few weeks to do it, since the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn sometime in April.

Because financing for the proposed stadium includes electronic pull tabs and diverting previously established  local taxes, both the Legislature and City Council are extremely reluctant to give their OK to this.  It boils down to familiar arguments over such things as the expansion of gambling, letting the people decide in a referendum, and the propriety of building another monument to professional athletes in tough economic times.

This is also about jobs.  According to Governor Mark Dayton, the stadium would create 13,000 construction jobs and 2000 permanent positions--all without one dime in public money.  Not to mention all the employment that comes from bars, restaurants and other types of commerce that comes with a stadium.

For the past two decades, we have heard constant nagging from the local pro sports franchises about getting new facilities to replace the ones they have, and begging local officials to give them the money so they don't have to pay for it all themselves.

• The North Stars moved to Dallas rather than play one more season at the outdated Met Sports Center in Bloomington, near where the Mall of America now stands.  So millions were spent to build a new hockey arena in St. Paul to attract the NHL expansion team that became the Wild.
• The Twins spent years getting out of the Teflon dome that was made for football, and into the sunshine--even to the point of almost moving the team to North Carolina--before finally landing at Target Field.
• The Vikings' attempts at getting out of their no-longer-adequate Metrodome, and into newer digs in the northern suburbs have always fizzled.  Until now.

Let this be the last time for awhile that a Minnesota pro sports franchise gets the palace they (and their fans) think they deserve.  There is so much more to take care of, but two decades of stadium talk has been a time suck.  This new proposal is not the best one there is for all involved, but it beats the alternative of having no pro football at all.

Legislators and City Council members, the ball is in your possession.  What are you going to do with it?