Dayton talking with the NFL about Vikings stadium impasse
Gov. Dayton is discussing the Vikings stadium situation with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Dayton's spokesman Bob Hume said Dayton called Goodell earlier today to discuss how the stadium issue gets resolved in Minnesota. Hume characterized it as a "sobering conversation."
"The commissioner shares the governor's sense of urgency to have the state act this year," Hume said. "The commissioner reiterated that the failure to do so would have serious consequences for both the Vikings and the NFL in general."
Hume couldn't outline what those "serious consequences" would be. Hume said Dayton, Goodell and Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney (Chair the NFL's stadium committee) will discuss the situation again in the morning.
Dayton and other stadium supporters have said that it will be difficult to revive the stadium bill this session after a committee in the Minnesota House killed the bill earlier this week.
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The House Taxes Committee is scheduled to take up a bill on Thursday that was initially aimed at helping finance the stadium. Rep. John Kriesel, R-Cottage Grove, said he wanted the Tax Committee to act on the charitable gambling portion of the bill. He said, however, that he was open to seeing the Vikings stadium bill language amended on to the bill after the Tax Committee acts on it.
"I want to get it clean out of there (Tax Committee)," Kriesel said. "Down the road, who knows?"
Meanwhile, Rep. Tim Mahoney, DFL-St. Paul, held a news conference calling on the Vikings stadium to be built in Arden Hills.
"As a fan and a taxpayer, I recognize the need to not just find a stadium solution, but to find the right solution. A solution that will benefit Minnesota as a whole," said Rep. Mahoney in a statement. "Given the jobs it will create and the property taxes it would generate, I believe this proposal does just that."
The Vikings and Ramsey County had a deal on a new stadium but it fell apart after the GOP controlled Legislature raised several concerns over the financing plan.