September 20, 2005
Zygi asks for $630M or so
Reason #437 not to believe everything you read: The headline says "Vikings to get new stadium," but the fine print is considerably less certain. What Vikes owner Zygi Wilf has is a financing plan, and it's one that would require even more public money than the team's last one: $400 million in stadium costs to be paid by a 0.75% Anoka County sales-tax hike, plus $115 million in new roads to be funded by the regular state sales-tax money collected at the stadium. (Yes, that's a TIF, for those of you who've been following along.) Or maybe the TIF would actually be more like $200 million. Oh, and did I forget to mention the $115 million retractable roof?
Minnesota political leaders haven't publicly responded yet, likely because they're still coughing and sputtering, but it seems unlike that Zygi will get his way when a similar Twins plan, only without the state money, currently remains in legislative limbo. For his part, Wilf gave this sales pitch: "Yes, the Vikings are privately owned, but as I have found, it's something that we have to protect. It's part of our fiber." This is perhaps not the image he was looking for.
Posted by: brent at September 20, 2005 09:05 PM
