Thread: Vikings stadium: $920 million-$1.2 billion

Originally Posted by BULLITT

There was a book written a few years back, and it listed the $ percentage that taxpayers have been bilked, over the last 25 years, for the cost of these "professional" sports venues. It was staggering. Then again, it should come as no surprise - look at the banks fleecing America.

Its really a gray area and tough to figure out what is real..

you can find books and papers espousing how great a stadium is( and like a camden yards totally revitalizes an area and well worth the spending and added income to the area and all the local business and state income tax coffer's that benefited.. and you can also find places like Minny's disaster that haven't gained traction and didn't help the area around the stadiums... do not think thi is an "either/or".. but much more about an intelligent plan and having all parties on same page from the bbegginingboth in short and long term goals... it CAN work to eveyone's adantage, but many times doesn't unfort.

Originally Posted by Dagan81

I hope that whatever stadium is built in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, it is an outdoor facility. Fans should be treated to cold weather football because it tests just how crazy are about their team. Green Bay does quite well with this, as do the Bears, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and New England. Those places get damn cold, though not quite as bad as Minneapolis. I remember going to a high school playoff game in 2006 between my dad's alma mater (who would go on to win the TSSAA 3A State Championship) and the favored local Catholic High School. The game was bone-chilling cold, with temperatures only around 18 degrees. I was never so cold staying outside for that long a period of time in my life, though it has gotten colder than 18 degrees here certainly. That was the coldest temperature for me ever since I've been attending football games, and it was fun as hell (though Dad didn't think so). The experience was one to be remembered for a long time. I hope I can come to a game at Soldier Field when the weather is like that.

yeah dagan, aree SHOULD be an outdoor facility, but nt happening unfort. the "plan" is either a dome, or retractable roof( same as dome come cold weather)... outdoor's is NOT on the menu..and think stinks ziggy including the PSL's as the vieks partof the contribution to the new stadium..

Vikings' share includes NFL, PSL money


By Kevin Seifert
My advice if you're ever having trouble sleeping: Pick up a copy of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) -- any will do -- and start reading. If you make it past the second page, you need to see a sleep therapist.

While heading out East Thursday, I plowed through the recently-released MOU of the Minnesota Vikings' stadium site agreement with Ramsey County. It took a few tries, but I made it to the end and picked out a few interesting tidbits worth mentioning here.

Most important, either side can opt out of the agreement if the state legislature hasn't passed the corresponding bill by July 1, or if Gov. Mark Dayton vetoes it. That caveat essentially confirms what we discussed Tuesday: All bets are off if the legislature adjourns without taking action May 23. Unless Dayton calls a special session to address it before July 1, the Vikings could re-open the bidding to a number of Minneapolis sites in the fall or winter.

There is no indication the Vikings are wavering in any way, and owner Zygi Wilf has consistently professed a vision -- complete with tailgating and a shopping district -- that can't be achieved in any of the urban Minneapolis sites. But if the Vikings were completely and totally committed to the Ramsey County site, there wouldn't be the need for an opt-out clause so soon in the process.

Answering a question we asked Tuesday, the Vikings' $407 million share does in fact presume an NFL contribution. The precise amount isn't detailed, but as you know, the NFL's mechanism for funding stadiums has been tapped and is subject to negotiation in the next collective bargaining agreement.

I reached out to league spokesman Greg Aiello to find out if the Vikings have been assured some level of league involvement in this project. They have not. Here's what Aiello said: "The NFL clubs would address a request from the Vikings for league financial support at the appropriate time." Aiello added that any league support would come in the form of a club seat waiver, where visiting teams forfeit their share of club seat premiums to contribute to the stadium fun. That perk requires approval from three-fourths of NFL owners.

The Vikings' contribution also includes revenue generated by selling personal seat licenses (PSLs), up to $125 million. If you consider a PSL a user fee, you can argue that the public will provide part of the Vikings' private contribution -- in addition to all of the county's $350 million share and the state's $300 million portion. If PSLs generate more than $125 million, the money will be diverted to cover the Vikings' portions of construction cost overruns.

The inclusion of a retractable roof in the original announcement was a surprise, and the MOU portrays its final inclusion as something less than a certainty. It will be installed "cost permitting." The roof represents $206 million of the project's total cost, and annual maintenance is estimated at up to $6 million.

The MOU gives the Vikings the discretion to scrap the retractable roof plans and install a fixed roof if it's "not economically or otherwise feasible." That sounds to me as if it is up to negotiation.

[IMG]http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/630*354/33stadium0511.jpg[/IMG] hide The proposed Vikings Stadium site at Arden Hills.

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Gov. Dayton has more qualms about Vikings stadium plan


Gov. Mark Dayton expressed fresh misgivings about the proposed deal to put a Vikings stadium in Arden Hills, saying it was a good deal for the team but fails to live up to his visions for a "people's stadium."

"I could see why that would be appealing to the Vikings," Dayton said of the plan. "I don't know why Ramsey County agreed to it."
Among Dayton's concerns: The agreement cedes too much control and ongoing revenue to the team. In addition, he said, it still pins responsibility for road improvements entirely on the state.

Dayton said the state's contribution of $300 million is "absolutely the limit" for the $1 billion project. State transportation officials estimate that road upgrades may range as high as $240 million beyond that.

Meanwhile, the bill's chief House author, Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, said Friday that any bill he brings to his colleagues must spell out the state's $300 million limit, have acceptable terms and a clear indication that "the governor supports whatever road we're on."

Lanning said that "unless all those things happen, this bill will not move forward -- and it hasn't happened yet."

Some outstate legislators introduced another hurdle for backers of the Arden Hills proposal. They expressed concern that their home district road projects might be postponed to make way for work done on stadium area freeways.

"We have pavement that needs to be taken care of ... projects that need to be done that have been on the plans for years," said Rep. Terry Morrow, DFL-St. Peter.
Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder, in a newsletter said that he was pleased by stadium progress but thought parts of the proposal could be "problematic."
"To take funds from southern Minnesota in order to build a stadium more than 100 miles away is the wrong approach," Cornish wrote.

Road trouble
Ted Mondale, Dayton's stadium point man, said the structure of the deal needs to be more like that of the Metrodome, creating a state "rec room" that would be publicly owned and controlled.
Mondale said no alternative state funding sources for roads were discussed at a meeting Friday with Dayton and the stadium bill's sponsors, Lanning and Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont.

"I'm thinking about making buttons: 'The state's number is $300 million,'" Mondale said.
The day's discussions and maneuvers closed out a week that began with no specific site for a new stadium and ended with two viable candidates, the city of Minneapolis' Metrodome plan and Ramsey County's deal with the Vikings that calls for development on the empty acreage of a former Army ammunitions plant.

The Vikings and Ramsey County announced their plan Tuesday to build a 65,000-seat stadium in Arden Hills, with the team contributing $407 million and the county raising $350 million through a countywide half-percent sales tax increase.

In a meeting with state Department of Transportation officials Thursday, Vikings' Vice President Lester Bagley said the team's engineering consultant from Minneapolis-based Parsons Brinckerhoff discussed how the roads could be done for about $80 million.
"We're trying to get on the same page," Bagley said. "There is a number somewhere between $80 [million] and $175 million."

Sen. Barb Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights, whose district includes Arden Hills, said she's troubled by the differing goals she's heard from Vikings lobbyists.
She said Friday that two months ago lobbyist Larry Redmond "told me that ... they really want it in Minneapolis."
She said that she told him, "Thank you for coming to tell me that, because now I know I'm not going to have this big hassle in my county."

When they pivoted to Ramsey, Goodwin said, Redmond denied telling her they wanted to be in Minneapolis. "I said, 'You most certainly did,'" she recalled. "I know exactly what he said."

Asked about Goodman's story, Redmond declined to comment.
With 10 days left before the Legislature is set to adjourn, Dayton said that passing legislation so that work could start on a new Vikings' stadium was "far less preferable [but] it might be more preferable than no bill."

However, he said that passing stadium legislation without the details being resolved -- such as the road improvements -- might be giving the project a "blank check."
"I don't think they should be asked to" do that, Dayton said of the Legislature