The new Vikings stadium plan's latest "political meltdown ... unleashed a torrent of political maneuvering and squabbling" at the Minnesota Capitol yesterday, according to a front-page piece by Mike Kaszuba of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Kaszuba reports the Vikings, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and key Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party legislators were "struggling to get on the same page about the imperiled project." Minnesota House Minority Leader Rep. Paul Thissen said, "People are exploring different options" to revive the stadium plan. Dayton and stadium supporters "conceded the odds were growing long that a new stadium could be approved this session and pledged to be back at the task if efforts fell short this spring." Dayton said, "We've got to get a stadium next year or the Vikings will leave." Also yesterday, the Republican-controlled Senate panel "that had previously considered the stadium plan, but did not vote on it, abruptly cancelled a meeting to reconsider the project" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 4/18). The AP's Bakst & Condon note the stadium bill's defeat "makes it difficult, but not impossible to revive this year." State Rep. Morrie Lanning, the bill's chief House author, said that it would "need a strong push from legislative leaders in order to circumvent the standard committee process that all bills are held to." So far, House Speaker Kurt Zellers "has been reluctant to embrace the plan." Vikings VP/Public Affairs & Stadium Development Lester Bagley said that waiting until next year "is not an option" (AP, 4/17).
TAKING THE HIGH ROAD: Vikings P Chris Kluwe wrote on his Twitter feed yesterday: "A lot of you are asking for a rant against the legislature. As much as I enjoy invective, it's unwarranted. This is how representative democracy works; if you don't approve the actions taken you can vote against the people responsible and vice versa. Either way, the state has finally made its position clear to Zygi, and while they should have been more upfront about it sooner, now means that he can respond however he feels appropriate to the situation. Speaking as someone who's seen firsthand the amount of effort and money that Mr. Wilf has put into this team and trying to make it championship caliber, all I can say is that he's held up his end of the bargain. Whether or not we won or not, Zygi made sure we had the tools necessary to give it our best shot" (TWITTER.com, 4/17).
DON'T MISS THE BOAT: In St. Paul, Tom Powers writes, "Right now, it's unbearable as people on both sides of the issue say the same things over and over and over. Nothing ever changes." The problem is "that everyone is making this too complicated," and Vikings ownership "won't put a time frame on anything." Powers: "Right now, people are fighting over brick and mortar. They are arguing about a facility and not a football team. Somehow, the two have been dissociated. And that's a mistake." Powers asks, "How dumb would Minnesota look if, in five years, it agrees to build a new stadium at a cost of, what, 30 percent more than it would cost now?" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 4/18). In Minneapolis, Jim Souhan writes, "The 'building playgrounds for billionaires and millionaires' line is as old as [Rockies P] Jamie Moyer," and it "cynically panders to all of us who are not millionaires or billionaires, a safe cowardly strategy." There are "no major sports teams that are not owned by billionaires, or that do not employ millionaires." Ruling out a building or stadium "that could benefit a billionaire is like ruling out building roads for all those elitists who own cars." Ruling out financial aid to an owner "in this case leads to one result: The Vikings leaving Minnesota." Souhan adds the state will "never again" receive a contribution of $427M to "build a billion-dollar stadium." The price of stadiums "will rise, and acquiring a new team will require either a transfer fee or an expansion fee along with the price of a new stadium" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 4/18).
