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Vikings Metrodome
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings are thought to be the least hampered by their current situation in
the Metrodome, but they are also the only tenant likely to move after their
current lease expires, in 2011; an enormous market without an NFL team exists in
Los Angeles, and San Antonio has also been discussed as a possible site, though
the NFL Committee has never approved of these possible moves, and Vikings owner
Zygi Wilf has stated he will keep the Vikings in the Metrodome if they can't get
a new stadium. The fear of losing the Vikings may pressure Minnesota governments
to finance a new, revenue-generating stadium. Downtown Minneapolis as well as
the suburb of Blaine have been explored as potential stadium sites. The Vikings
are seeking taxpayer subsidy of more than $300 million to assist in construction
of the stadium, which may also be used for the many other events currently
taking place at the Metrodome. On September 20, 2005, the Vikings and Anoka
County reached an agreement to build a 68,000 seat retractable-roof stadium in
Blaine, where the Vikings and the county would each pay $280 million and the
state $115 million. It would have opened in 2009 or 2010 if approved by the
legislature. After the approval of the stadium plan Wilf dropped plans to
include a roof of any kind, which would have severely limited the site's utility
for year-round events in Anoka County. In November of 2006 Anoka County
officials pulled out of the partnership. In addition to unapproved site design
changes the Vikings had started to work behind the scenes with officials from
Minneapolis, the site of the current Metrodome. Anoka County believed it had an
agreement to be an exclusive partner, and since County offcials did not want to
get into a bidding war with Minneapolis they withdrew from the project.
The Vikings and Minneapolis are currently conducting studies about redeveloping
land around the Metrodome and building a new stadium adjacent to the Metrodome.
Another option would have the Vikings playing at the new TCF Bank Stadium at the
University of Minnesota starting in 2009 while a new stadium is constructed on
the current site of the Metrodome.
Unlike previous owner Red McCombs, the present Vikings ownership has publicly
disavowed any plans to remove the team from Minnesota. On May 17, 2006, the
State Senate announced that any further work on the Vikings stadium bill would
cease until the 2007 legislative session. The bill which authorized financing
for the Twins Ballpark included provisions to prepare the field for a Vikings
stadium deal in 2007, this was before Anoka County pulled out of the project.
Wilf has more recently expressed interest in redeveloping the land on which the
Metrodome currently sits. Local politicians are pushing the Vikings ownership to
possibly renovate the Metrodome because of its location and existing
infastructure. A renovation would cost roughly $200 million compared to the new
stadium cost which would push $700 million. A possible renovation would include
the addition of a club level, new seating, new, larger concourses with increased
concessions and bathrooms, renovation of existing suites, create permanent
seating for football, and large video boards outside the Metrodome walls. Zygi
Wilf has denounced any ideas of a possible renovation citing it would cost as
much to build a new stadium as renovating the Metrodome.
It is impossible for the citizens of midsize U.S. metropolitan areas, such as
the Twin Cities, to be assured that any given professional sports team will
remain in the area. In the Twin Cities, the threat of franchise relocation was
realized in 1993 with the Minnesota North Stars' move to Dallas. The sports fans
in the city hope new revenue-generating facilities, such as the much-praised
Xcel Energy Center, will commit teams to remaining in the market. With public
support finally growing for replacement projects for "the Dome"'s three tenants,
its end may be drawing near.
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