Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges "doubled down Wednesday on her rejection of a plan to provide tax breaks" for a new MLS stadium, according to a front-page piece by Erin Golden of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Hodges called the request from Minnesota United Owner Bill McGuire “extraordinary.” Her comments came a day after McGuire "laid out a plan that calls for the venture’s owners to chip in $250 million to cover the land purchase, a franchise fee and the construction of the new stadium near downtown." It "also includes a sales tax exemption for building materials" -- estimated to add up to about $3M -- "and a property tax exemption." Hodges "dismissed McGuire’s suggestion that the plan includes 'no public subsidy whatsoever,' and said she and other city leaders have not been provided with enough information to assess the full cost of the project to taxpayers." All of the other major sports facilities in the Twin Cities "have been granted property tax exemptions and several have received sales tax breaks, along with considerable direct subsidies." But Hodges said that the soccer stadium "is a different situation." It "would be privately owned, unlike the others, which have public backing." It is uncertain whether McGuire's group "will move forward without the tax breaks." If the proposal does advance, it "will likely need the approval of the City Council, whose members appear to be split on the issue" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 4/16).
POST-TRAUMATIC SUBSIDY SYNDROME: In Minneapolis, Michael Rand wrote the city "is a combination of overbuilt and overspent," with sports facilities "eating up more than a combined" $1B in public funding alone. If everyone "had it to do all over again, we probably would have done it differently." It is "unnecessary to spend gobs of money on two pro arenas for hockey and basketball when one really would do." It is "a little crazy ... to construct two huge new football stadiums so close together in both proximity and timing." The "same could be said, we suppose, for the notion of now considering building" one more stadium: an open-air MLS facility. The new Vikings stadium "can be configured for soccer." It "wouldn’t be as good of a gameday experience, but it would work." Should we "always have to have the best?" Rand: "In general, no. But in this case … it adds up." McGuire's group "had a keen sense of its bad timing and came in with a plan that is more than just palatable." Rand: "It’s fair. It might even be a good deal for the state and city, something that is rare. Their bad timing shouldn’t diminish a good plan." Even if you "don’t like soccer, rich people or stadiums, it’s hard for a reasonable person to find much wrong with this plan" (STARTRIBUNE.com, 4/15).
