MINNEAPOLIS-Following hours of discussion with government officials Wednesday, the owner of the Minnesota Vikings seemed to warm to the idea of building a $918 million new football stadium on the site of their current facility, as opposed to two other preferred proposals.
The team has been working for a few years to build a new stadium, claiming that it loses money every year from hosting games at the 30-year-old Metrodome. Vikings principal owner Zygi Wilf has said he’s committed to keeping the team in Minnesota, but said he would rather build on another property – in part to keep from having to play at a temporary location for three years while the Metrodome is redeveloped.
However, Gov. Mark Dayton told Wilf last week that the Metrodome is the only viable option if the team wants government funding assistance this year. Two other possible sites, one by a church near the current stadium and another in Arden Hills/Ramsey County, are not viable this year because of opposition issues, Dayton said in a number of public statements. In all the options, the planned 65,000-seat stadium will be owned by the taxpayers and leased to the Vikings.
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Thus, the governor, Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak and other lawmakers met with Wilf to discuss stadium options Wednesday. A spokeswoman for Bryant tells GlobeSt.com that no decisions were made at the meeting.
At a press conference after the meeting, however, Wilf said he’s ready to focus more on the Metrodome site. “We have to make sure we solve this stadium issue,” he said at the conference. “We’re working very hard to make sure we do the best we can for the state and the team, and have a people’s stadium that all can be proud of.”
Wilf said he does plan to continue discussions with Ramsey County supporters. The plan would feature a $1.1 billion stadium built on the site of the former Twin Cities Army Ammunitions Plant, with another 170 acres available for mixed-use development (including a possible training center). To make this stadium real, however, the county would need a voter-approved tax increase, and the state legislature has said it will not approve such an election.
Both the government and Wilf agree that the church plan is likely dead. Rector of St. Mary’s Basilica protested a new stadium, adjacent to the church along Linden Avenue, saying that traffic and noise would be unbearable.
The Vikings have said that it will cost the team an extra $67 million to hold its games at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Stadium for three years.
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