Stadium hearing at the Capitol

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In a four hour hearing at the State Capitol this week, members of the Minnesota state senate took testimony on possible locations for a new Vikings stadium. KFAI’s Erika Lantz has a report.

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A push for public ownership: Lawmakers want the Vikings to be owned by a community

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Rep. Phyllis Kahn introduced legislation Monday that would make the Minnesota Vikings a publicly owned team as a means to finance its new stadium.The ongoing debate surrounding the football stadium drove Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, to seek new alternatives for the team.National Football League teams can be owned by more than a single individual, but current NFL rules prohibit any team other than the Green Bay Packers to have more than 30 owners.Kahn’s legislation would move the team to a community ownership model, like the Packers, allowing for the sale of stock in the team to the public. It would require the governor and the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission — the current owners of the Metrodome — to work with the NFL to change current ownership rules.The new form of ownership could generate funds for a new stadium through stock sales, according to the press release sent out Monday.Kahn introduced community ownership legislation for the Minnesota Twins in 2005. The bill had bipartisan support in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, but didn’t gain much traction and ultimately failed.Kahn said the Vikings legislation will likely just stimulate conversation.“The legislation is very, very general. I really want the [experts] to work out the details of it,” Kahn said. “Gov. [Mark] Dayton asked for all ideas to be put on the table, and that’s exactly what I’m doing here.”Current NFL rules require managing ownership to keep 30 percent of a team, which likely would stay with the Wilf family, the current owner of the Vikings.Although the legislation would diminish the Wilfs’ ownership of the Vikings, it would be a deal that is too good to pass up, Kahn said.“They’re being offered to free up 70 percent of the capital that they have in this team, and do everything that they do with the 70 percent with the 30 percent — except relocate the team,” Kahn said, “which Mr. Wilf has said he doesn’t plan to do.” Continue Reading

As clock ticks, MN GOP delays stadium game

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Minnesota Republican legislative leaders now say they are opposed to a special session Governor Mark Dayton wants to call to build a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings.Dayton was visibly frustrated after a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch and House Speaker Kurt Zellers.Koch wants to see public hearings on the stadium before they agree on a plan with the Governor. Zellers says there is no rush to deal with the stadium issue before the regular session of the legislature begins in January. Dayton is interested in the stadium because of the badly-needed construction jobs it would create.Dayton says he is postponing his plan to make an announcement on Monday of a stadium-funding proposal. Having a proposal is the first step towards calling a special session.The Viking’s lease at the Metrodome in Minneapolis expires in February. Continue Reading

Lawmakers want voter approval as part of proposed stadium financing

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The Minnesota Vikings biggest loss of the season to date may not have taken place on the field.Gov. Mark Dayton announced that there is not House or Senate support for an exemption to state law requiring a voter referendum to increase a local sales tax that would have helped finance a new stadium.The governor said he’ll meet with team officials and legislative leaders to “actively” discuss other financing options. Dayton previously stated that he’d unveil his stadium proposal by Nov. 7 with hopes of a special session to pass a stadium-financing package the week of Thanksgiving.“My timetable may or may not be feasible,” Dayton said.The announcement is a potentially big blow to the football team’s stadium plans. A proposal favored by the Vikings calls for the construction of a $1.1 billion stadium on 430 acres in Arden Hills. The team would pay about $420 million, Ramsey County $350 million through a 0.5 percent sales tax increase and the state would contribute $300 million. Continue Reading

Dayton and Rybak meet for stadium talk

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While the hunt for the Minnesota Vikings’ next stadium drags on, Minneapolis leaders are revisiting the idea of a new stadium near downtown Minneapolis.Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and City Council President Barbara Johnson met with Gov. Mark Dayton on Monday at the state Capitol to discuss plans for a Minneapolis stadium.“The best place for the Vikings to be is in downtown Minneapolis,” Rybak said.Although stadium talks have been focused on a site in suburban Arden Hills — the Vikings organization’s preferred spot — a report released Oct. 12 by the Metropolitan Council suggested the stadium could not be finished by its 2015 goal, and likely wouldn’t be completed until 2016 or 2017.“We also believe we can pass this plan so that [Vikings rookie quarterback] Christian Ponder can actually play in the new stadium before he retires,” Rybak said.“When [the team] said they preferred Arden Hills, we stood back,” Rybak said. “That project has not gotten done, and it seems to be at a very difficult stage here at the Legislature.”Minneapolis leaders began to revisit their plans for a stadium when progress on the Arden Hills plan slowed this month.A Minneapolis stadium could go to one of three proposed sites. The first would build over the existing Metrodome site. The second is to construct a stadium on the current Farmers Market in downtown Minneapolis. Continue Reading