Flash!

Brilliant news!

In an astonishing breakthrough, an agreement has been reached on a new stadium with retractable roof, real grass playing surface and a surrounding urban redevelopment plan that includes a soccer themed gastropub and a totally self-sustaining "Peoples' Green Space". The project will not rely on government financing at all, with 1/4 of the costs covered by the Vikings ownership in concert with the NFL and the rest to be covered by a 1% surcharge on any economic activity within the new "Development Zone" and money collected from Vikings players that are fined for infractions of state and federal laws.

In a related story, the Wilfs have signed Lionel Messi to a 10 year contract in anticipation of their acquiring an MLS franchise. The Wilfs are rumored to have arranged a loan to the Minnesota Stars FC until the organization is purchased by the Wilfs to serve as their MLS franchise.

Further details here: http://www.candyland.com

"Now all I have to do is figure out a way to work some furry-footed elves, teenage vampires and swordplay into this and I've got myself a moneytree" figures

That little old jersey collector

Me

"The dice are stacked against them." - Theo Foley, former Arsenal assistant manager

I'm sorry but I'm going to have to veto those extravagances when we have a $5,000,000,000.00 state deficit.

We have already made cuts, now everybody needs to pay their fair share.

Kudos to Gov. Dayton for vetoing the business tax relief bill and basically killing the chances for votes on the stadium. #LackOfLeadership

It will be a sad thing if the republicans now veto the stadium just because their business buddies did not get their tax breaks. Kinda tit for tat I guess, interesting that so many have called the stadium a hostage to other items in the session. I would call it a type of political blackmail...

The DFL will vote for the stadium, Dayton hes been the main supporter. The stink bomb will not land on him. The GOP is the one that will kill it, and that is what will be remembered years from now. They are the ones who tied these two bills together. That poor use of planning/strategy will also be remembered years from now. The vote on the stadium will be recorded into the state's history.


I bet ya $100. your GOP buddies do in fact vote for the Vikings stadium bill.

I love that the Star Tribune only NOW finally got around to actually covering the soccer aspect of this debate. http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/150253615.html

Thanks for podting this article. This is a great item to contact our legislators about.

I'm amazed by the amount of soccer experts posting comments to that article.

I'm amazed that facts such as the franchise fees being $40 million aren't checked. I hope they do more of this kind of reporting and I emailed Mike telling him as much.

I had a good conversation with some of my legislator friends this morning. The votes will be there, however, Dayton better hope that the DFL wins one house in the upcoming elections or they MN GOP is going to dig their heals in on a lot of stuff. Dayton has had a series of stupid vetos, including a veto that modify some legislative districts--the courts in their "wisdom" drew a line threw an apartment complex in one district and excluded 12 people in one town in another case. As my dad always said, "Son, you can't fix stupid!"

It is a good day to e-mail your representatives and tell them what you think.



e-mail lists

House of Representatives
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/housemembers.asp

Senate
http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/member_list.php?sort=D&ls=#header



You can find who represents your area here
http://www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/districts/

There are two links/maps



*Make sure you include something about wanting the provisions for also having an MLS team play in the stadium.