University of ND, Minnesota Campus

[Whiskeyjack]

I'll put my soap box away, but ensure that my wallet is nearby and open to be picked by already privileged billionaire owners.

Occupy the Metrodome!

 

[andre784]

Like duping a state and a city into footing the bill for building a new, fancy-schmancy stadium while collecting revenue for expensive sky boxes and their amenities, food and beverage sales, naming rights and reaping the benefits of property tax exemptions, waiver of utility connection fees, etc. All while watching the value of their franchise grow without any of the real risk associated with business ventures.

I'll put my soap box away, but ensure that my wallet is nearby and open to be picked by already privileged billionaire owners.

Vikings were promised a stadium after Twins got one. Mark and Zygi could have easily left to Los Angeles. Using the word "duping" is pretty skewed when they are willing to spend more of their own money to rent a place out than any other owners in the league.

 

[MNIrishman]

The issue isn't whether they're willing to use some of their own money. It's that the state money is a gift. I know---the stadium will be leased by the team and used by the state hundreds of days the rest of the year, blah blah blah. The University of Minnesota has fantastic facilities both indoor and out. If those can't be used (and I can't think of any nonathletic use that couldn't utilize existing university facilities), then the state money would be much better used preserving the Metrodome for non-football use. The estimated maintenance cost of the Metrodome is about 4 million dollars a year. That works out to $120 million over 30 years. Compare that to the cost of the Vikings at more than four times that. Are they willing to spend more than other owners? Good for them. That's fantastic. I want them to be flat damn broke before begging me and my 25 grand a year income for a contribution. If they want a state contribution otherwise, then I want it to be treated as an investment. I want the state to get a good business deal out of this. If public money is used for 2/3rds the costs, I want Minnesota to get 2/3rds the Vikings' profits while operating in-state PLUS taxes. It's only fair. The state isn't building 3M or Best Buy any buildings that I know of.

Maybe that isn't how the NFL does business, but that's the NFL's problem, not mine. Perhaps they should make a rule that allows public shares of teams to be sold again. If the Vikings can just pick up and leave because their profits aren't good enough, in what way are they actually Minnesota's team? At least the Packers are bound to Wisconsin. I would love it if Gov. Dayton would grow a pair and put the screws to them until the state got a real business deal out of Vikings, LLC. or the National Football League, LLC.

 

[MNIrishman]

Hey, John Carlson's from Minnesota! I missed that.

 

[Irish YJ]

One can make arguments on both sides.... At the end of the day, I don't think our founding fathers envisioned tax dollars (1) funding a professional sport, and (2) subsidizing a millionaire or billionaire. If you want to argue that it drives profit to local businesses and creates jobs, tax the businesses that are benefiting. Call me old school, but I prefer my dollars going to building roads, improving education, etc.. Sorry, but if there were great benefit (outside of the NFL owners), don't you think a private investor would build the thing...
Sorry for adding to the rant, just tired of special interest, stadiums, and a hundred other non-critical programs putting their hands in my pocket. If the NFL owners can't figure it out themselves, I'm happy watching college football.

 

[Cnenaristo]

Sorry, what

Sorry, what

you are right

 

[dshans]

Vikings were promised a stadium after Twins got one. Mark and Zygi could have easily left to Los Angeles. Using the word "duping" is pretty skewed when they are willing to spend more of their own money to rent a place out than any other owners in the league.

I don' recall that the Vikings were promised a new stadium. If they were, I'd like to know just who made that promise. Was it the Pohlad family, which benefited from construction of the baseball stadium? If so, let Wilf pound out a deal with them. Was it a group of business leaders? If so, let them drum up funding from the private sector. Sell shares in the stadium to the public then negotiate a deal with the Vikings and the NFL that brings a return to the investors and keeps the Vikings both solvent and profitable. Was it a politician or three? If so, let them justify their stance to voters and subject it to a vote.

As it stands, the taxpaying public is on the hook for 56% or more of the up-front cost. They are responsible for 100% of the ongoing maintenance and upgrade costs. There are also the interest costs on the 30 year bonds that are part of the public funding pool. Much of the proposed sources of public funding revolve around expansion of gambling. Such a deal!?!? A source of income that is tenuous and destructive in many instances.

The NFL and the Wilfs stand close to a 0% chance of losing a single penny should the deal not be tenable over time. Not so the public. That the threat of having the team relocate, whether under current or new ownership with the costs involved, speaks to the benefits to the NFL and team owners to the detriment of the taxpayers who shoulder the majority of the cost and all of the risk. Moving an NFL team from one city to another ain't cheap. It takes a hefty monetary commitment on the part of an owner – or a civic entity they can dupe into holding the bag.

 

[Walter White]

I believe they did have private investors when Wilf wanted to build the stadium in Arden Hills but the city wouldn't allow it and said they would help out with a downtown stadium so they could keep the money there. There is plenty of jerking around going on in MN over this issue by the owner and the politicians.

And Dshans, Wilf has proven loyalty to the state of MN and they will not move unless he sells the team, a possibility, but Wilf wants to stay in MN. I don't like the idea of a state funded stadium but I think I'd be OK with a city aided one.