By Luft Krigare

   Today in St. Paul, state lawmakers took a new first step towards replacing the aging Metrodome.  As per a NPR report , “The Senate tax committee amended a large tax bill today to require the Vikings and the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission to prepare a stadium recommendation by early next year.”

The cost of the study will be $2 million with the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission and the Minnesota Vikings splitting the cost equally.  Commission Chairman Roy Terwilliger explained, "It could cost us as much as $2 million to do this. The cost would be shared between the Vikings and the sports commission. There'd be no tax dollars here. It would be money that would come out of the current reserves of the sports commission. And it would allow us to be more specific on what we're talking about as far as costs."

Terwilliger passed that the goal is to provide better information on costs and revenues from a new stadium but not to decide to build one or not.  That is the obvious goal of stadium proponents.

Vikings vice president Lester Bagley confirmed that the study must be done by early 2009 to set the table for the legislature to discuss the Vikings’ request for a new stadium.

Terwilliger told legislators that the Vikings' lease expires after the 2011 season, and reminded reporters after the session that the Vikings "are free agents to move" after that date.

If the Vikings or the NFL decide that doing business in Minnesota is not profitable, and staying in the Metrodome clearly isn’t generating sufficient funds, the Vikes may be forced to leave.  Then the public would be ladened with the yearly utility and maintenance costs of a building that will no longer hold any major professional sporting events.  The sell outs of the 10 Vikings games a year allows the building to be used over 300 other days for high schools and colleges, concerts, community activities and other events. Not to mention the 4,000 runners and 30,000 inline skaters that use the facility every year.

The Metrodome’s own website states, “The Metrodome, as the country's only public stadium that does not rely on a continuing tax subsidy to finance operations, maintenance or debt payments.”  That would change if the Vikings left and for how long in the times of budget deficits would the legislature be willing to subsidize the aging domes operations before they close it along with all the high school and collegiate events, spring baseball, concerts, conventions, camping, fishing, boat and home shows and recreation for thousands.  Then there would be no reason for people to frequent that part of the city.  Blight and even more lost tax revenue will ensue.

A new stadium should be built to run under the same or similar model as the Dome, but its main requirement is that the Vikings play in it, without them it will be all for not.  The Vikings need to utilize this public building and pay to do so [and are willing to pay $250 million just to have that privilege] or the public will lose a piece of quality of life and the asset itself.

Hopefully the study commissioned today will make that decision a “no brainer”.  A new stadium is the necessary and right decision to make and the Vikings staying in Minnesota right along with it.  Today's step may be small, but it is in the right direction.