Tim Nelson is a general assignment reporter for Minnesota Public Radio News, and a 20-year veteran of local news. He’s been covering the Vikings stadium issue since 2011.
Call it keeping up with the Petersons. As in Adrian. Or the Mauers, as in Joe. Or the Gophers, as in… Well, okay, maybe not them. But St. Paul has renewed hope for a facelift for the 13-year-old Xcel Energy Center, thanks to legislation this spring that will forgive more than $28 million of outstanding Read more →
Fans, neighbors and others can get an up-close look at the impact the new “multi-purpose” stadium will have on the east end of downtown Minneapolis tonight. The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority is hosting an open house to talk about its draft Environmental Impact Statement, a 389-page summary of the legal, environmental and historical situation that Read more →
Legislators in the Minnesota House passed their big tax bill early this morning, and it’s soon to be a whole new day for Vikings stadium funding. The measure includes the provisions that back up the gambling revenue with new cigarette and corporate income taxes. When it gets passed, as expected, by the Senate, electronic gambling won’t Read more →
Football fans were reveling over the design of the new Vikings stadium this week, but bird watchers remain skeptical. Glass, they say, kills birds. And it looks like there’s a LOT of glass on that new stadium. The issue actually came up back in November, in a review of the stadium project’s proposed environmental impact Read more →
So long electronic gambling taxes, hello cigarette taxes and additional corporate income taxes. That’s Governor Mark Dayton’s plan to close the revenue gap in the Vikings stadium financing plan. The tax earmarks were laid out today by revenue commissioner Myron Frans in a House-Senate Tax Conference Committee, to be included in this session’s omnibus tax Read more →
The plan to boost Vikings stadium-bound revenue likely won’t include a sports memorabilia tax. That proposal appears dead. Supporter of the memorabilia proposal House Taxes chair Ann Lenczewski announced at a conference committee meeting that she’d opted to back the governor’s so-called “secret” plan to make up for the shortfall in gambling tax revenues. Electronic Read more →
A proposal to tax sports memorabilia to help backfill disappointing Vikings stadium revenues has come up against another state institution: Target. Senate tax chair Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook, says lawmakers are rethinking the 10 to 13 percent tax on jerseys, bats, balls, gloves, shoes, trading cards and all manner of other sports-themed products, even children’s onezies Read more →
A massive, 5-block, nearly $400 million development is headed for the area just west of the planned new Vikings stadium. The city of Minneapolis, Ryan Cos. and the Star Tribune announced the project this afternon. It will include $320 million in office and housing in two privately-developed towers, near where the Star Tribune’s current building Read more →
Here’s a look at the imagery that HKS Architects offered for the new Vikings stadium in downtown Minneapolis. (Click for the full gallery)
Stadium builders have unveiled their vision for Minnesota’s new NFL stadium: it’s part fluoroplastic, part Viking sailing ship and an angular nod to other Minneapolis landmarks like the Walker Art Center and the Guthrie Theater. And the roof won’t be opening. That said, the south half of the roof will be sheathed in ETFE, a Read more →