This thread discusses the Content article: Stadium in Limbo?

I really wish they would just get this done.

what are your thoughts?

Even a Super Bowl run probably won't budge them. They are taking in more tax money than ever into the state coffers and are still running a deficit and whining about it that they will probably have to raise taxes, and are worried about bridges and other infrastructure on top of that. The politicians won't get a deal done.

I think Zygi should change tactics and say that hell build it himself if they give him a tax free zone for the next 30 years, that way no NEW taxes will be spent. (It won't happen I know, but it is a thought.)

It’s on now
December 4th, 2007 – 10:06 AM by Kevin Seifert

Yes, that’s the bottom line after Monday’s unsurprising announcement that the 2008 state legislature is unlikely to consider a proposal for a new Vikings stadium. The news caused hardly a ripple in the hard-charging Twin Cities media community, but it’s hugely significant for at least one reason.

Now, for the first time since the Vikings started this process in the late 1990’s, the state can no longer use the Metrodome lease as leverage against the team.

Look at it this way: Construction of new stadium takes four years from approval to installing the final hi-speed internet line in the press box (hint, hint). So, even if momentum suddenly builds toward approval in 2009, the earliest the stadium could open is 2013. That means the state can’t have a new stadium ready when the Vikings’ lease expires after the 2011 season, a situation that — at the very least — would prove inviting to an out-of-town suitor who would no longer have the lease as an obstacle to luring the team.

There has never been any indication that the Wilf family or the NFL would move the Vikings, but it’s silly to think those entities will remain idle on the issue indefinitely. That’s why three NFL executives came to town Monday — to form an independent opinion on whether there’s any hope for a long-term solution in Minnesota. Eric Grubman, the NFL’s executive vice president, said he left the day “informed and encouraged” but also acknowledged the lease issue represents a fixed date in the stadium timetable.

The biggest obstacle to NFL relocation has always been whether there is a true alternative out there. Los Angeles has always been considered the obvious destination, but there are no certainties that the Los Angeles political scene wants an NFL team.

The nightmare scenario for Minnesota, however, is that the stadium debate will extend to the point where the Vikings become an attractive relocation possibility from a financial standpoint. The Metrodome lease always provided a convenient obstacle, but the looming 2012 ”gap year” has changed those parameters in a fundamental way.
This means that the "could" leave in 2012 and there is nothing the state could do about it. All that tax revenue that goes along with the team, sales, hotel, income, etc. will all evaporate. Smart move St. Paul!

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