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April 16, 2010
Vikings stadium plan: What's the rush, where's the money, what about the spending cap?
The excellent Jay Weiner of the excellent MinnPost has an overview of outstanding questions about the now-stumbling-forward Minnesota Vikings stadium plan — excellently titled "New Vikings stadium: About a zillion questions to be asked, but we only have room for 13 of them." And I only have room for three of the 13, but some of the highlights include:
2. What's the rush?
Yes, the Vikings lease expires after the 2011 season. But the Twins played in the Dome for a number of years on a year-to-year basis. And who in state government is performing thoughtful due diligence on the real possibility of the team moving to Los Angeles? ... This "Los Angeles threat" should be vetted.
4. How much is this stadium going to really cost?
The Star Tribune story uses a $698 million figure. We're hearing the conversations have the price as much as $100 million higher? What is it going to cost? Does that include related infrastructure?
8. What about the $10 million cap on Minneapolis sports facilities funding?
In 1997, the voters of Minneapolis said that any city contributions that exceed $10 million to a sports facility must be approved by a referendum. How does that affect — if at all — any effort to use Convention Center money to fund a Vikings stadium?
All worthwhile questions, as are the other ten. Let's hope someone in the Minnesota state legislature knows how to read things on the series of tubes.
Lakers? Northstars? Do a little history before you rant
Posted by bob on April 16, 2010 04:00 PM
The Lakers, really? Isn't there a statute of limitations on move threat precedents? What next, the Duluth Eskimos?
Posted by Neil on April 16, 2010 04:57 PM
Yeah, go back to sleep, Minnesota. We have lots of purple and gold teams out here in California. The Vikings should blend in just wonderfully. Please don't invest in any stadium that might actually be worthy of the 21st century, and we'll handle the rest for you, no sweat. Nighty, night. Sleep tight. When you finally awake up, you'll all see you won't need a stadium.
Posted by Rich on April 16, 2010 08:51 PM
Private businesses and their facilities are good for communities, yet they are not public goods. Not everyone benefits equally from them (which is fine). Government's job is to provide both freedom and safety for its legal citizens, not to be a charity or a redistributor of wealth. Plus, business owners rightfully have more than enough money to fund private projects on their
own. To bums who neither need nor deserve public cash, stop both your arrogance and your raping of America's economy! Pay for it yourselves, Vikings!