Minneapolis hopes to keep Vikings

Topdawg13 · May 10, 2011

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Minneapolis leaders offered Monday to have the city pay 22 percent of the cost of a new football stadium for the Minnesota Vikings at the current Metrodome site, putting the longtime home of the team in competition with an offer from neighboring Ramsey County.

The Minneapolis plan throws in a sweetener by setting aside money to renovate the aging Target Center basketball arena, relieving what's a decades-long burden on property taxpayers in the state's largest city. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak called the proposal "two stadiums for the price of one."

Ramsey County has been trying to woo the team out of Minneapolis with a suburban site about 10 miles north of St. Paul, one that would offer the opportunity for new retail, entertainment and hotel development. But with significant environmental cleanup and infrastructure improvement costs attached to the former Army ammunition plant in Arden Hills, the Ramsey County site is likely to carry a higher overall price tag.

Team spokesman Lester Bagley said the Minneapolis offer had good points but that the team was not consulted as city officials assembled it. Bagley said the proposed Vikings share in the Minneapolis plan -- $400 million, or 45 percent of the total cost -- is more than the team wants to pay.

The Minneapolis plan would require the demolition of the Metrodome, and the Vikings would play at the outdoor TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota for up to three seasons. Bagley said that would cost the team about $40 million in lost revenue, and that team officials are concerned about being fully competitive in the campus stadium.

"We do appreciate the city stepping up and saying here's our proposal," Bagley said. "But we are going to continue negotiations with Ramsey County hopefully to put together a deal."

Either plan requires state legislative approval. There are two weeks left in a state legislative session in which Gov. Mark Dayton and lawmakers are simultaneously trying to erase a projected $5 billion budget shortfall.
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