State puts its stadium deal on the table
Fifty million. That's the number the state has added onto the contribution it wants from the Vikings for a new stadium in downtown. The state wants the Vikings to spend $477 million - $50 million more than the Vikings commitment to spend $427 million.
A House and Senate conference committee released the number in a joint report, set to be the subject of a commitee hearing tonight. Update: Here's the conference committee report.
You can read the report here.
Senate sponsor Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, has told MPR's Tom Scheck that the team has not agreed to the number. About an hour ago, the Vikings left the Governor's office through a non-public entrance and declined comment.
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"They're talking with the owners and were going to proceed ahead with the conference committee," Rosen said. "We're going to meet and go through our agreement and we'll see where the Vikings land."
The original plan, released March 1, had the state building and owning a $975 million, fixed roof stadium in downtown Minneapolis.
The state would have paid $398 million, paid for by taxes on new, expanded gambling including electronic pull tabs and bingo. The city of Minneapolis would have paid $150 million -- borrowed on the city's behalf by the state -- and paid it back with existing hospitality taxes.
The Vikings were to be in for $427 million up front.
Although that was only 44 percent of the construction cost, the team was also to pay $13 million a year in capital reserves and operations.
The conference committee report also gives Vikings owner Zygi Wilf the exclusive rights to a Major League Soccer franchise for five years. The team would play at the new stadium. The Senate stripped out that language last night.
It isn't clear how the night will proceed. Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, said a conference committee on the bill is more likely to meet at 11pm tonight not at its scheduled 9pm. The Conference Committee has to sign off on the bill before it is sent to the House and Senate.
The House had hoped to pass the conference committee tonight. The Senate is expected to pass the conference committee report tomorrow.