Vikings stadium deal may be dead

[jonathanlambert33]

In a troubling move for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium, Gov. Mark Dayton announced Tuesday that there was not enough legislative support to exempt either Ramsey County or Minneapolis from having a referendum to increase local sales taxes for the project.

Dayton said he and Republican legislative leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch and House Speaker Kurt Zellers, came to the conclusion following a meeting last Friday. Without a legislative exemption, the governor said in a statement, the earliest a referendum could be held in either Ramsey County or Minneapolis would be November 2012.

The announcement could effectively derail a plan to have Ramsey County contribute $350 million to a new $1.1 billion stadium in Arden Hills through a countywide sales tax increase. Stadium proponents have argued that without a legislative exemption – like the Minnesota Twins had in Hennepin County in building Target Field in downtown Minneapolis – the Vikings stadium project would likely be scuttled by voters.

The way I understand this is the mayor doesn't see anyway to raise a sales tax to pay for a new stadium, and even if they do use them that can't be until next November. In the end it really doesn't make much difference when it gets voted on, because it's a certainty that if it goes to a public vote, it'll never pass.

This pretty much rules out any chance of any public funding, which in turn pretty much rules out a new stadium. Which means the Vikings are almost certainly gone?

 

[Pugz]

*in comes Mexi. LA, LA, LA

 

[.infamous]

TO LA THE VIKINGS GO. First the Lakers now the Vikings possibly.