New stadium

[croixflats]

The old Munitions site in Arden Hills is surfacing as a possible location for the new Vikings stadium.

Thursday two Ramsey County commissioners will be meeting with the new head of the Metropolitan Sports Commission Ted Mondale, to discuss their idea.

Commissioner Bennett tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the Vikings have toured the site.

Mondale says Gov. Mark Dayton hopes state lawmakers won't wait too long to present a plan for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium to replace the Metrodome.

Mondale made his Capitol debut Wednesday as new chairman of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission. He told a state Senate committee that the new governor supports a stadium that would be both a new home to the Vikings and a "people's stadium" that like the Metrodome could host high school and college sports and other public events.

Mondale says Dayton doesn't want lawmakers to wait for the last days of the session to debate a stadium bill. The likely lead Senate sponsor has indicated she hopes to debut a stadium bill by sometime in February that will include a proposed site, design and funding approach.

[klecker]

Moving this to the detroit lions thread.

[solbes]

That munitions site is HUGE and would have already been developed years ago if it weren't for all of the chemical contamination onsite. I don't know how they are going to get through all of the approvals unless they pony up for the cleanup first. Factoring that all in makes it a fairly expensive site, but one with a large area to develop full-on Ziggytown.

Still I think it's a pretty good idea if they can get past the environmental contamination issues.

[birdswacker]

Get it done. Pass a law that only Minnesota companies and people can work on it. It would put a lot of people to work and improve the local economy. I know quit a few construction trades are realy hurting right now.

[chasineyes]

Let them go to L.A.! I won't lose an ounce of sleep

+1

[chasineyes]

I dont see the Vikings going anywhere. They are the most popular sport in MN. And if the team left, there would be a lot of lost jobs, and businesses hurting in the area. It would be political suicide!

So do you hold the same sentiments as the ford plant closing? (Notice nobody seems to give a rip about that) Or is that different becuase its not a sports team??

[Antero]

I lived in Mn for 22 years, I was there for all the stadium talk for all the various teams. It seemed to me that the suburban site talk was just that...talk. In the end I feel MPLS will get the stadium in MPLS.

Remember the line in " All the Presidents Men"? Follow the money. The money has always been in MPLS.

[Scott K]

Quote:

So do you hold the same sentiments as the ford plant closing? (Notice nobody seems to give a rip about that) Or is that different becuase its not a sports team??

Didnt the Gov try rather hard to keep them here? Pretty sure they didnt close up shop because of the lack of support from the GOVT!

[Surface Tension]

I would imagine a lot of support/arm bending to keep a stadium inside the city and right down to a specific location that will benefit local businesses is going to be a hurdle.

A new site that has the room for the growth for new businesses, a new mini city if you will would IMO be a boom for development, jobs, tax revenue, and help fund a new stadium. Might be time for a casino too. How about on site parking at $20 a pop.

Will this munitions site fit that bill and if a clean up needed isn't that a Federal deal?

[311Hemi]

If I remember correct 90% of the cleanup is done on the 430 acre section they are talking about, but the renaming 10% will be up to the buyer to take care of. It could be a hefty bill and is one that has caused other developers to back out of buying the property. I think it would be a good site....a lot of open land there that they need to do something with.

I could walk home from tailgating!!

[zepman]

The Arden Hills site talk is exactly what the stadium really needs to get things heated up a little.

I like hearing about competing cities for the NEW stadium.

Just get it done.

[Stcloudangler]

Get it done. Pass a law that only Minnesota companies and people can work on it. It would put a lot of people to work and improve the local economy. I know quite a few construction trades are realy hurting right now.

This may be the most intelligent thing said in the football forum.

Mark it down.

[croixflats]

The land is going up for auction and with the contamination I think the buyer is in drivers seat. They want to dump the land as it is costing them money. Be rather dumb not concede to an offer less than valued. Hopefully there wont be a bidding war by another development team or for tat matter a fictitious development team.

Though I do agree Minneapolis will end up getting the stadium. It will either be renovating the dome or behind the Target center. Either way I will not go to a game in Minneapolis.

I also agree let them go to LA. It sounds like this may get pushed through so lets do it right and take it out of Minneapolis. I may even go to the games if not in Minneapolis, I wont if it ends up in Minneapolis.

[mainbutter]

My thoughts, simple and to the point:

I don't want my tax dollars spent on football. There are better investments, and more worthwhile causes.

They are the most popular sport in MN.

There are plenty of arguments for baseball being MUCH bigger in MN than football. Ticket sales alone are a great argument.

The fact that the Target Field plan went through so easily and successfully is another great argument in favor of baseball being more popular.

[Scott K]

I agree the Twins sell more tickets, mostly because there are more games. But if you count total viewers, the Vikings win easily. If the Vikings leave, there will be a lot more businesses hurting then just the ones around the the Dome. I know of a quite a few places that cater to football parties, bars that easily have their busiest days during football games, clothing stores, sports stores that sell memorabilia, ect.

[creepworm]

The twins also got their stadium not because of the popularity of baseball, but their willingness to work with government officials and not try threatening them. They also put up a lot of money for target field. The over budget expenses the twins covered and did several upgrades to the original plan out of their pocket. The twins ended up paying 44% of the cost. The Vikings are willing to 33% of the original budget and any costs over the original plan the state would have to pick up.

In my opinion the Vikes are and have been going about this the entirely wrong way. I believe they would already have a new stadium if they were willing to work with the state and not threaten to leave if they do not get their way. Also, they should be willing to open up the pocket book like the twins did. The Vikings are almost being unreasonable with their demands.

[PurpleFloyd]

[PoorWordUsage] expensive and will never be able to pay itself back with that price tag.

The Dome cost 50 million dollars to build and it had the Vikings, the Twins and the football Gophers playing all of their home games in it plus the t-wolves for a few years before target was built. That stadium did pay for itself in that scenario but now that the other tenants have left the dome is now only in the black because they are depreciating it out and that can only go on for a few more years before that is all off the books.

Now the state is in the situation where the sports teams have gone from 3 teams playing in that 50 million dollar stadium to the twins having their own 550 million dollar stadium, the Gophers having a 290 million dollar stadium and the Vikings stadium projecting out at just under a billion with a roof. I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night but something tells me that the economics of all of that just don't add up to them being able to survive without further state subsidies.

Face it, if these stadiums made money there is no way the owners would let the state come in a share the cut with them.

Now, if they decided to keep the dome and have all of those monster truck rally's etc in it and build a open air, less expensive stadium for the vikings that stood a better chance of cash flowing i would be fine with the idea but why the state wants the roof and the extra cost when the team is fine without it is beyond me.