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June 08, 2011
Stadium talks at "stalemate," Vikings offer other people's money to fill gap
Things just look worser and worser for the all-but-dead Minnesota Vikings stadium campaign. In the latest news, state stadium czar Ted Mondale declared that "we're kind of in a stalemate" over stadium talks, with neither the state, Ramsey County, nor the Vikings willing to pay for $131 million in road work that would be needed on top of the $1.05 billion in construction costs.
Vikings execs did proffer a plan this week to pay for the new roads, but not with their money:
"We have laid out a transportation finance plan to pay for the roads for the Arden Hills site," said Lester Bagley, the team's vice president of public relations and stadium development. "It's a user-based finance proposal. The intent is to capture transportation revenues at the stadium or near the stadium."
Bagley declined to go into details but said part of the plan would raise money from taxes or fees on spending around the stadium that wouldn't have happened were it not for a stadium being there.
Dear lord, it's yet another TIF! Which went nowhere when then-governor Tim Pawlenty proposed it last year, so it's not something that should make anyone think a stadium deal is imminent. No one, that is, except for Mike Nelson. (And no, still not that Mike Nelson.)
"All but dead"?
LOL! Ok.
Posted by Josh on June 9, 2011 05:15 PM
Oh, and in regard to your comment about "other people's money", you do realize that all of these road improvements are classified by MDOT as being necessary regardless of whether a stadium is built. In fact, roughly half of them are already scheduled to be done.
Posted by Josh on June 9, 2011 05:48 PM
Meanwhile, in Santa Clara...
www.mercurynews.com/southbayfootball/ci_18226291?nclick_check=1
I'm sorry you can't see why the Vikings stadium is in so much trouble, Josh. All the evidence is there for you.
Posted by MikeM on June 9, 2011 06:30 PM
Did you have a point Mike? Farmer's Insurance has offered to put up $1 billion in naming rights money. LA already has financing for a stadium. They just need a team.
Posted by Josh on June 9, 2011 06:41 PM
Did you have a point Mike? Farmer's Insurance has offered to put up $1 billion in naming rights money. LA already has financing for a stadium. They just need a team.
Posted by Josh on June 9, 2011 06:42 PM
Farmers Field is not going to happen. They're just too many questions to get the financing to happen without a huge amount of risk taken on by the City of Los Angeles. I guarantee you that AEG is going to abandon the idea and bow out to Majestic Reality while focusing their attention on the Dodgers and try to acquire them then float a Downtown Baseball Stadium that connects to the Convention Center just like they were thinking with the Farmers Field football stadium. AEG would be wise to invest in the Dodgers with a Downtown Stadium and not the NFL.
Posted by NFL in LA on June 10, 2011 02:08 AM
I mean, Josh, that things aren't moving in Minnesota. LA, I have no idea.
Posted by MikeM on June 10, 2011 11:33 AM