Take Our Stadium, Please

A group of Minnesota lawmakers opposed to subsidizing a new stadium for the NFL’s Vikings proposed Oct. 21 to simply give the team’s current Minneapolis home, the Metrodome, to the team. The Vikes aren’t biting.

“Even stadium opponents understand the facility no longer works for the team, our fans or the state,” team spokesman Jeff Anderson said.

What the lawmakers propose is a transfer of the Metrodome to the team, contingent on the owners signing a 25-year contract and assuming operating costs. The Vikings could refurbish it any way they want; the facility would also be added to the property tax rolls in Minneapolis.

“We’re trying to inject a little fiscal sanity into the debate,” State Sen. John Marty said, noting that “everyone from the Tea Party to Occupy Wall Street are angry about corporate subsidies.”

While it might make a nice political sound bite, the proposal is met with plenty of skepticism from Vikings officials, who say the team’s profit potential at the Metrodome already doesn’t keep up with that of other NFL teams. The team’s lease with the city runs out at the end of the current season.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has backed the team’s wish for a $1.1 billion stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Arden Hills, or at another site. He plans to introduce his own stadium proposal by Nov. 7.

The idea to give away the old stadium isn’t new. It was floated, and fell flat, several years ago when the Minnesota Twins baseball club sought state help to build what became Target Field.