NASL club Minnesota United FC Owner Bill McGuire is "upping his behind-the-scenes maneuvering for a new soccer stadium in Minneapolis in hopes of landing" an MLS franchise amid competition from the Vikings, according to a front-page piece by Kaszuba & Olson of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. McGuire met last month with Minnesota state Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk after Bakk called MLS Commissioner Don Garber "to tell him that the Legislature had already addressed the professional soccer issue." The Legislature has given the Vikings "exclusive rights to try to bring an MLS franchise" to their new $1B football stadium. The McGuire-Bakk meeting came "amid new signs that McGuire ... is emboldened as he privately takes the temperature of a range of public officials to help finance the project." There are indications that McGuire’s proposal "may be finding traction." With MLS officials having postponed a decision on expansion, and with the new Vikings stadium nearly half built, the delay has "fueled speculation that MLS may be waiting to see whether McGuire can assemble the financing for a stadium." McGuire is "lobbying for a separate, outdoor soccer stadium -- a design that MLS officials prefer." McGuire’s efforts to build an outdoor soccer stadium near Target Field "have also been joined" by the Twins Owners, the Pohlad family, and T'Wolves Owner Glen Taylor. Both teams play in venues that are "near where McGuire is reportedly eyeing a soccer stadium" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 3/6).
