Vikings Stadium: The Yeas Have It

In the wee small hours of the morning of May 10, Minnesota's House of Representatives voted to approve funding for a new Vikings football stadium.  In the early afternoon, the Senate followed suit.  Once Governor Mark Dayton signs the bill, and the city of Minneapolis gives its approval, our long statewide nightmare will have ended.  There will be no more talk of the "Los Angeles Vikings".

The deal goes like this:  For a stadium in downtown Minneapolis that would cost almost a billion dollars with a roof and seat at least 60,000 people, and would presumably be ready by the 2016 NFL season, the Vikings would contribute $477 million (which is $50 million more than what they wanted to pay).  The state of Minnesota chips in $348 million, and the city of Minneapolis $150 million.

It will be paid for through various forms of "charitable" gambling (such as electronic pull tabs), personal seat licenses, and a new lottery game.  While this won't encroach on the Native American casinos, you have to wonder if there really is an appetite for more gambling in Minnesota.

There's been grousing about how the deal got done, with much of it behind closed doors.  And why was there no referendum in Minneapolis, as its laws require?  This is Introduction to Government 101, folks:  The more important the bill, the less public scrutiny it gets.

Construction should begin this fall on the south side of the Metrodome (also known as Mall of America Field), where the Vikings will continue to play for a couple of years.  In 2015, the season before they move into their new digs, the team will play at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium.

Other highlights of the agreement include:

• A 30 year lease.
• A five-year exclusive window for Vikings owner Zygi Wilf to bring a professional soccer franchise to the new stadium.
• Money for renovating Target Center in Minneapolis, and a new St. Paul Saints baseball stadium.
• Close to 3000 new jobs, a point Governor Dayton had been emphasizing when lobbying for the stadium.

There have been complaints that the needs of education and the general welfare of the state have taken a back seat to the needs of a billionaire sports owner life Wilf.  Truth is, the legislators were backed into a corner.  With no lease and the subtle threat of the Vikings going elsewhere, what could they do?  Say no and be remembered as villains by Viking fans forever, or say yes and risk losing at the polls in November?

It's been 12 years since the Vikings started making noises about leaving the Metrodome, a stadium they fought hard to build back in the 1970s.  Since then the Twins, Wild and football Gophers got new places to play, and all the Vikings got from St. Paul was the cold shoulder.  Finally, it's their turn.

Now we can go back to worrying about Christian Ponder and his throwing arm, and Adrian Peterson's mending knee.  Or how the Vikings can get out of last place in the NFC North.  And fans will no longer have to worry about joining the Packers, instead of beating them.

But most of all, this has been 12 years of our lives we'll never get back.  Now that the Minnesota Vikings finally have their field of dreams, we can move on to more important things.