Minnesota Vikings Reach Tentative Agreement for New Stadium

The Star-Tribune also reported that the three sides have reached an agreement on how the costs would be divided, as well, with the city paying $150 million in construction costs and $180 million in operating costs over the next 30 years, while the state will pay $398 million and the team would pay $427 million.

The agreement, however, is just the first step in the process for getting the Vikings a new stadium. According to the report, the package will need to pass the Minnesota State Legislature, as well as the Minneapolis City Council - neither of which, the report states, is guaranteed. In addition to the governmental hurdles in Minnesota, the National Football League also has to approve any potential stadium deal.

Despite these hurdles, however, Senate Majority Leader David Senjem told the Star-Tribune that he believes that there is still enough time for the Legislature to vote on the deal before it adjourns in April, saying, "I think that we could certainly arrive at a decision on the bill - up or down - within the two month framework."

In addition, the report states that the Minneapolis City Council could be a major roadblock for the stadium deal getting finished, saying that surveys of the Minneapolis City Councils indicate that the majority may be opposed to support the subsidy that would be necessary to fund the stadium on the city's part without a vote on the topic.

The stadium project may not even need the support of the council, however, as it is not even clear what the vote would be or whether the Legislature would try to bypass the council altogether.

It is important to remember that, at this point, the deal is in its preliminary stages and that there is no guarantee that it will come before the Legislature in time for it to be voted on prior to their spring adjournment. Should that be the case, however, Senjem speculated that there could be a special legislative session in order to get the bill voted on.

Information from the Minneapolis-Star Tribune was used in this report.

**Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings.