REP. BARRETT CALLS FOR VIKINGS TO HELP FUND NEW STADIUM
Barrett says the Vikings’ contribution is “not real” and owners need to step in to protect Minnesota taxpayers, school kids and the elderly
St. Paul – State Representative Bob Barrett, R-Lindstrom, today introduced two bills that would protect Minnesota taxpayers from being used as the backup funding source to build a new Vikings Stadium. In addition, Barrett’s bills would provide transparency to taxpayers, allowing the public to know the exact amount of each of the external funding sources that were given to the Vikings by Governor Dayton in last year's bill to fund their portion of the stadium costs.
“We have a huge problem that needs to be fixed,” Barrett explained. “Taking charge and fixing the problem is a matter of good governing in order to save taxpayers, school kids and the elderly from funding this huge shortfall.”
House File 1787 would make public the total amount of the large outside revenue sources the Minnesota Vikings are using to finance their portion of the stadium, including stadium naming rights, personal seat licenses and a $200 million loan/gift from the National Football League (NFL). Language in last year's stadium bill protects the Vikings organization from data practice laws and allows the owners to keep this information private.
“Minnesota taxpayers don't know that the Vikings’ contribution currently comes from outside sources separate from their own assets,” Barrett explained. “What’s more, the stadium bill signed into law last year by Governor Dayton mandates that these funding sources be kept private and out of public scrutiny. The Wilf family’s [Vikings owners] contribution towards stadium construction might be little to nothing after these extremely lucrative external funding sources are used. Unfortunately, unless we pass this bill, nobody will ever know."
Barrett's bill would mandate that all external revenue sources currently called "Vikings Contribution" (including naming rights, personal seat licenses and the NFL loan/gift) be deposited by the Vikings into a state managed fund so that Minnesota citizens could know and understand the amount of these contributions. Money from this "Private Contribution Fund" would be released to the Minnesota Stadium Authority on an as-needed basis during stadium construction.
In addition, Barrett’s bill would require the owners of the Minnesota Vikings football team to pay a minimum stadium contribution of $200 million separate from this "Private Contribution Fund," with the contribution mandated to come from their own team resources.
Barrett explained: “This is needed to protect Minnesota taxpayers, school kids and the elderly who currently are on the hook for this billion dollar project.”
Barrett’s second bill, House File 1788, would require the current "private" funding sources of personal seat licenses, naming rights and NFL loan/gift be used to fund the public portion of the stadium, with the remaining portion of stadium costs to be contributed by the city of Minneapolis ($150 million) and the Minnesota Vikings (remaining balance).
“Either one of these bills will provide a much needed solution to take control of a extremely expensive project that has gotten more expensive for taxpayers after the 95 percent shortfall from e-pull tabs,” Barrett said.
Regarding other options currently being discussed, such as a sports memorabilia tax, Rep. Barrett said, “I don’t believe that solving this problem by taxing 12-year-old kids buying Joe Mauer baseball cards or Lindsay Whalen jerseys is the right approach. This is especially true when you realize that this new tax only provides one third of the revenue needed to close the shortfall from e-pull tabs.”
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Rep. Barrett can be reached by phone at (651) 296-5377. He can also be contacted via e-mail at rep.bob.barrett@house.mn, or via U.S. Mail at 287 State Office Building, St. Paul, MN 55155.