Vikings Exec VP/Public Affairs & Stadium Development Lester Bagley said that construction on the team's new stadium is "right on schedule" to be completed by July '16 and that there "doesn’t appear to be anything to push the opening date back," according to Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Bagley: "It’ll be enclosed next fall, so they’ll start to work inside by the end of the year. By this fall of 2015 we’ll start to enclose it and by the end of the year they’ll start working inside for the finishing touches over the last six months of the project." He added that the Vikings "believe they easily will sell out their personal seat licenses, but that will still leave a certain number of seats available for sale to the general public." Begley: "We’ll hold back 20,000 every year." Hartman noted the stadium "was originally budgeted to cost" $975M with $498M "coming from the public." The total cost to date "has gone up" to $1.027B, with the Wilf family "paying the extra" $52M. Vikings co-Owner & Chair Zygi Wilf, President & co-Owner Mark Wilf, and Vice Chair Leonard Wilf "haven’t backtracked on their promise to build the best stadium in the NFL, and they have written the checks without a whimper." Meanwhile, Vikings Exec VP & CMO Steve LaCroix said that there will be "no increase in ticket prices" this season with the team again playing at the Univ. of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 2/16). In St. Paul, Doug Belden reported the new stadium "will get a huge staffing increase in the next few months" when a "workforce of about 800 will peak near 1,200 by summer." Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority members on Friday approved $14.3M "in increases to the overall budget," raising it to $1.041B (TWINCITIES.com, 2/15).
