And speaking of deadlines, Major League soccer deputy commissioner Mark Abbott has said his league plans to stick to a previously announced July 1 deadline by which Minnesota needs to finalize plans for a new soccer stadium — and about $48 million in tax breaks that Minnesota United owner Bill McGuire is demanding as part of the deal — notwithstanding that the state legislature just adjourned for the summer without voting on a stadium deal:
“July 1st is the deadline that we put out there in March, and it remains the deadline,” said Abbott. “We’re going to decide [what happens next] on July 1, or closer to July 1st.”…
As DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican leaders jockeyed in early June over what would be discussed during a special session of the Legislature — which took place Friday — McGuire’s soccer stadium barely was on the radar.
“It has not been mentioned one time,” Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt said late last week. “It really has not been part of any conversation. And we didn’t have any outside groups pushing us on it, either. I don’t know if they saw the writing on the wall, but there was just no discussion of that in final negotiations.”
This seems like one deadline that will likely be enforced, especially since MLS has a near-endless list of other cities it can grant expansion franchises to (and then pull them from again if they don’t come up with stadiums, presumably). Though given that league commissioner Don Garber has already announced that he’ll start moving on expanding by another four teams later this year, it’s not like this is Minnesota’s last chance, either. Who knows? Maybe McGuire will decide to copy his colleagues in Orlando and just decide to pay for the whole thing himself.
Considering how drawn out the special session was, and how close it got to being blown up over much larger issues, I don’t think Dayton is going to call a special session to deal with an issue no one really cares about. Again, it seems to me that MLS has miscalculated its ability to put the screws to cities over failing to get soccer only stadiums and they have blown a chance to get into a market with an owner that actually has sway.
Good News For People Who Love Bad News Minnesota United owner says there isn’t a hard deadline. http://www.minnpost.com/sports/2015/06/can-bill-mcguire-get-what-zygi-wilf-jim-pohlad-and-craig-leipold-got-they-discussed
“I’m not even sure I remember what Don said,” McGuire said. “But I wouldn’t get too caught up about hard deadlines. The reality is MLS is a hot commodity right now.” He said there could be another franchise announcement for another city this week.
My guess is the Vikings are still working hard to land the MLS franchise.
Brian: That was last week that McGuire said that, before Abbott’s latest ultimatum.
MLS has a legit alternative in Sacramento if MUFC doesn’t perform. Let’s see if Don Garber actually starts swinging that axe.
Sacramento: BOHICA.