Storm of Vikings stadium ideas; all wind and no rain
An odd couple of lawmakers--John Marty, DFL-Roseville and Linda Runbeck, R-Circle Pines, introduced a plan to sell the Metrodome to the Vikings for $1. Marty says it's an attempt to inject 'fiscal sanity' into the debate over a $1 billion stadium.
The idea didn't go over well with team officials, who call it a 'non-starter'. ESPN 1500's Tom Pelliserro gets more to the point, saying rehashing old ideas is just a waste of time.
Other lawmakers floated a trial balloon to tap the Constitutionally protected Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. House Assistant Majority Leader Kurt Daubt, R-Crown, was offered up to deliver the news through MPR that some Republicans were wondering out loud how to get their hands on this golden goose. Reaction was swift and sharp: unless you can make the new stadium both a duck blind and a studio for duck stamp artists, this idea is going nowhere.
All of this follows Gov. Mark Dayton's own stadium discussions with important people from earlier in the week.
The nearly lease-less Vikings thank everyone for devoting all that brain power toward the problem and all. But it turns out they're really serious about putting the $1.1 billion stadium at the Superfund site in Arden Hills as soon as taxpayers agree to help pay for it.
