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January 24, 2012
Dayton: Crappy Metrodome site is only viable Vikings option
As if the Minnesota Vikings' stadium hopes weren't already looking dismal, Gov. Mark Dayton's office issued a statement yesterday making them even dismaler:
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton told Vikings owner Zygi Wilf on Monday that the team's new stadium will have to be at the Metrodome site if a stadium bill is to pass the Legislature this year, Dayton's spokeswoman said...
Dayton spokeswoman Katharine Tinucci said it's not that the Democratic governor necessarily prefers the Metrodome site. But he believes that the stadium must be at that site if the bill is to pass during the legislative session that convenes Tuesday.
Tinucci added: "I can't say this is the governor's favorite" site. Hey, hey, enough with the hard sell!
The bright side if you're the Vikings owners (or dark side if you're an opponent of spending hundreds of millions of dollars in public money on a Vikings stadium) is that Dayton is at least attempting to focus legislative attention on one site, unenthusiastic as he may be about it. We'll see if this tactic is enough for the legislature to actually act on it, or if they decide to punt the whole mess to 2013 in the hopes that the laws of mathematics have been revised by then.
I think if you had asked me a year ago I would have mad a pretty large bet that regardless of what happened in 2025 some NFL team would be playing in a new stadium on the Metrodome site.
That has always been the best site from a transportation infrastructure perspective, funding perspective, and state government interest perspective, and even if Wilf left the NFL wasn't going to leave the league without a team in MSP for more than a handful of years.
Posted by Joshua Northey on January 24, 2012 03:21 PM
The Vikings are about to blink. For the record, the current situation is rubbish for all involved because you can't force somebody to do something they don't want to do. Bringing TCI Bank Stadium up to code is going to be costly and if that happens, the Vikings might as well move there for the long term. The Metrodome, in its current state, can be used for the Olympics and other activities.
Posted by Jessy S. on January 25, 2012 01:07 AM