Minnesota Pols in Tough Position as Vikings Stadium Vote Nears at LinesMaker

Minnesota Pols in Tough Position as Vikings Stadium Vote Nears

ST. PAUL, Minn. (NFL/Newsfeed) — Min­nesota House Speaker Kurt Zellers could have been speak­ing for many of his fel­low law­mak­ers when he strug­gled to describe his posi­tion on a $ 1 bil­lion Vikings sta­dium bill before a vote that could be crit­i­cal to the team’s future in the state.

“I won’t vote for it, but I want to see it pass,” the Repub­li­can said in an inter­view late last week on sports radio.

With votes sched­uled Mon­day on a huge pub­lic pay­out, 200 law­mak­ers are under pres­sure from plenty of peo­ple who oppose the project — but worry they will be blamed if it fails. A defeat this week, while not fatal, would accel­er­ate fears that the state could lose its most beloved team.

The Vikings haven’t openly threat­ened to leave Min­nesota, and are com­mit­ted to play­ing in the 30-year-old Metrodome this sea­son. But sta­dium boost­ers, led by Demo­c­ra­tic Gov. Mark Day­ton, say punt­ing on the pro­posal could set up a night­mare three-peat for Min­nesota sports fanat­ics. After all, the state lost the NBA’s Lak­ers to Los Ange­les in 1960 and the NHL’s North Stars to Dal­las in 1993.

“Nobody wants the Vikings to leave the state of Min­nesota. Nobody wants that to hap­pen,” said Rep. Sarah Ander­son, a sub­ur­ban Min­neapo­lis Repub­li­can who is unde­cided how she’ll vote on Mon­day. “It’s just a mat­ter of fig­ur­ing out whether this pack­age will work and is a good deal for our taxpayers.”

Sta­dium sup­port doesn’t break down neatly — it has Demo­c­ra­tic and Repub­li­can back­ers, but also plenty of oppo­nents in both parties.

Fis­cally con­ser­v­a­tive Repub­li­cans loathe the poten­tial hand­out, but the party’s busi­ness wing wants to pre­serve a valu­able asset in the city’s core. Democ­rats — espe­cially the party’s labor base — crave the thou­sands of hard­hat jobs that would come with a new stadium.

The Vikings would have to kick in $ 427 mil­lion — which isn’t enough for some lawmakers.

“I’m con­cerned about whether the owner is foot­ing enough of the bill,” said Sen. Julianne Ort­man, the Senate’s deputy Repub­li­can leader. “I’m really con­cerned that what we’ve got is a minor­ity part­ner in this project dic­tat­ing the terms, wag­ging the dog if you will.”

Vikings fans have roamed the Capi­tol for days, adorned with face paint, horned hel­mets and purple-and-gold super­hero cos­tumes. School­child­ren on field trips have shown up to the Capi­tol in jer­seys. The team even brought out star run­ning back Adrian Peter­son late last month to glad-hand lawmakers.

Some would-be oppo­nents are tripped up by their fan­dom. Rep. Chris Swedzin­ski, a Repub­li­can from rural south­west­ern Min­nesota and a likely yes vote, said some of his most hard-right con­stituents want the sta­dium. He called it “a beast all on its own.”

“I’ve got folks that I know are active in the tea party that have said, you know, I’m going to sus­pend my ratio­nal thought right now, Chris,” Swedzin­ski said. “I know what I believe and I know where this country’s headed if we con­tinue down this path – but don’t lose the Vikings.”

Sta­dium sup­port­ers say even if the bill isn’t per­fect, it’s time to set­tle the issue.

“At this time, in this polit­i­cal cli­mate, it’s prob­a­bly the best we can do,” said Rep. Paul Mar­quart, a Demo­c­rat from north­west­ern Min­nesota. “We’re fourth and inches. Let’s push this thing across the goal line.”

If the bill passes the House (it can be read at http://bit.ly/Vikingsbill), it will go to the state Sen­ate. Numer­ous amend­ments are expected to be offered, and a long debate is likely.

BetLM's sports betting news features unique sports betting articles as well as current sports news compiled from leading wire services. This arti­cle was dis­trib­uted by Syn­di­cated Sports news wire and aggre­ga­tion ser­vice, For more NFL news see: Min­nesota pols in tough posi­tion as Vikings sta­dium vote nears.

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• Could Min­nesota Vikings Fol­low Lak­ers in Mov­ing to L.A.?
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