The Minnesota Vikings have cited an urgent need in their push for a new stadium deal, noting their expiring stadium lease. But language in the lease agreement may legally bind the Vikings to play one more year at the Metrodome.

Vikings Vice President of Stadium Development Lester Bagley says the team’s lease with the Metrodome legally expires at the end of the season. Ted Mondale, head of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, says that's not the case.

The Vikings believe their lease on the Metrodome expires at the end of the season. The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission says last December's roof collapse that caused the Vikings to play a home game in Detroit, legally extends the lease through 2012.

The Minnesota Vikings say they have played their last game in the Metrodome under the current 30-year-old lease. It officially expires February 1. The team now considers itself homeless without legislation to help fund a new stadium. Lawmakers begin the 2012 legislative session on January 24. The Vikings (3-13) lost the season finale to the Bears, 17-13, matching the worst record in franchise history first set in 1984.

Vikings Vice President of Public Affairs Lester Bagley told ProFootballTalk that "more than one community" has contacted the team about relocation. Bagley didn't say which communities were interested, but he believes they will become public knowledge once the Vikings' lease with the Metrodome expires at the end of the season.

Reports that surfaced over the weekend suggested the Vikings were looking at a stadium site southeast of the Metrodome, in hopes they could keep using the Dome during construction of their new home. But a team executive says the location is not viable as a stadium site.

Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf will sit down for a summit meeting Wednesday with Gov. Dayton, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, and other key players in the stadium discussion. To date, the Wilfs have turned up their nose at the idea of building a new stadium on the site of the Metrodome -- they prefer a roomier spot in Arden Hills. But Dayton and Friends will try to get them to change their thinking.

Republican House Speaker Kurt Zellers sent an e-mail to colleagues saying a vote on a plan to finance a new stadium should wait until the 2012 regular session. But Vikings Vice President Lester Bagley says putting off legislative action could leave the team operating without a lease and add to the project's already hefty costs.