State Senate Denies Bid For Tax Money To Fund MLS Stadium In Downtown Minneapolis

The Minnesota state Senate yesterday "voted overwhelmingly ... to block professional soccer owners from even getting close to their goal of tax breaks" for a stadium in Minneapolis, according to a front-page piece by Rachel Stassen-Berger of the ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS. The "unexpected 61-4 vote bars the state from spending or borrowing any money or using any tax expenditures to 'fund the construction of a new major league soccer stadium.'" The vote "brings to a quick end the request" from NASL club Minnesota United FC owners for "state sales and Minneapolis property tax exemptions" for their proposed $250M downtown stadium. The leaders gave "little hope that a future request would win much love." Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges also said that she "opposed any city subsidy." State Sen. Branden Petersen said, "I'm kind of tired of billionaire hucksters walking in the Capitol" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 4/21).