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April 30, 2012
Vikings bill neither dead nor alive, check back later to see if waveform has collapsed
And in the news you've all been waiting for, the Minnesota Vikings stadium bill is ... well, not exactly dead, but not exactly alive, either. Gov. Mark Dayton said earlier today that "it's still breathing and they're still in session, so anything could happen," which doesn't exactly sound hopeful. But then, we've seen stadium success pulled from the jaws of defeat at the last second before, so "anything could happen" should probably be taken at face value.
And speaking of which, what happened over the weekend to cause the Vikings stadium to go from "air of inevitability" to feeling for a pulse? While there are still tons of complications around the exact form of public funding for the plan — racinos, for one thing, are apparently back off the table again — the main holdup appears to be a separate fight over the size of a state bonding bill and over business tax breaks that the Republican leadership is facing off with Dayton over. With no agreement there, legislators aren't inclined to spend time working to pass the stadium bill that Dayton wants, which raises the possibility that time will run out on the legislative session before stadium votes can be taken by the full house and senate.
Right now, there are no plans for a stadium vote today, but it also looks like the legislative session will drag on for a few more days while this stalemate over taxes and bonds continues, so there's still plenty of time to address the Vikings stadium once everyone is talking again. In the meantime, this should give state legislators some time to kick back and read state senator John Marty's letter outlining in detail why this Vikings stadium plan would be a financial disaster for the public in order to placate a team that has no viable threats of moving and which is just looking to increase its profits on the backs of taxpayers. If, you know, anyone is still interested in such things instead of just yelling "Eeeagh! L.A. Vikings!"
John Marty is the best friend an L.A. football fan could have.
Posted by Ben Miller on April 30, 2012 04:45 PM
John Marty is also the best friend of the Minneapolis tax payer. Funny how that worked out.
Posted by wisher on April 30, 2012 05:33 PM
John Marty is someone who is actually bothering to think about the dollars and cents in this deal. Not just clinging to useless platitudes like "jobs". This is a horrible deal for the state, and a pretty poor one for Minneapolis as well. All to benefit a billionaires from out of state.
Amazing what political donations and lobbyists can do.
Posted by Joshua Northey on April 30, 2012 06:07 PM
John Marty: hero. Any legislator who votes to give public dollars to these monopolistic sports teams should face voter recalls.
Posted by Jack on April 30, 2012 06:21 PM
Too bad John Marty isn't a legislator here in California. Santa Clara could have used a state legislator willing to tell the truth about the 49ers stadium money, instead of sacrificing Santa Clara on the altar of the NFL.
Posted by SantaClaraTaxpayer on April 30, 2012 09:09 PM
One has to applaud a post title that combines sports and quantum mechanics.
Posted by MarkH on May 1, 2012 08:33 AM