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April 26, 2011
MN Gov. Dayton: Vikings should pay 40-50% of stadium cost
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton upped the ante on the Vikings stadium proposal yesterday, telling Minnesota Public Radio that the team owners should pay between 40% and 50% of stadium construction cost. That's up from the one-third share proposed in the all-but-comatose stadium bill, and way up from the one-third-not-counting-roof-costs that team owner Zygi Wilf said he was in for.
Now, there are lots of ways of counting shares — the Vikings could, for example, pay more cash up front but get more at the back end by getting a bigger cut of stadium revenues — but still, it looks like things are headed in a direction that is not going to make Wilf happy. State senator Julie Rosen, lead sponsor of the stadium bill, said she still has hopes of getting a bill passed this year, and that any final legislation "is going to change dramatically from what it is now." Maybe this is all part of the plan: Ask the Vikings for more cash and see if that gets any more legislators on board?
Of course, there'd still be plenty of public cash — about half a billion dollars of it — and Dayton spoke to that as well:
He said he disagreed with sports economists who say the economic impact of a sports stadium is negligible. As many as 8,000 people could be employed for three years building the stadium, he said.
So, half a billion dollars, to create 8,000 jobs — that's $62,500 per job. That would be almost semi-respectable, except that the jobs only last three years. The long-term full-time equivalent job creation is likely to be in the low thousands, which would put the job creation numbers in the more typical for stadiums $100,000-$250,000 per job range, or as economic development analysts call it, "despicable."
I think the Vikings should pay 45% of the stadium costs and then lets figure this out quickly and get it done. If the Wilf's paid 45% and kept the Vikings in Minnesota the fans would love them and show more support for a owner that was willing to work with the state and its people. Let's build what Greenbay has a great team and great fans.
Posted by Tom on April 26, 2011 09:46 AM
Do the Wilfs have that kind of money? Is a new box in MSP worth that kind of money to them?
Posted by Anderson on April 26, 2011 11:56 AM
Whether Zygi has the cash on hand isn't really the point - if he's spending cash or taking out loans, either way he's going to want to get a return on his investment. And it's not clear that a new stadium will bring him $500 million worth of added value, now.
Of course, then that brings you to the question of why the state should build the Vikings a new stadium in the first place, if it costs more to build than it generates in new revenues. At that point it'd be cheaper for all concerned just to pay the team to keep playing in the Metrodome.
Posted by Neil deMause on April 26, 2011 12:03 PM