Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Vikings stadium a 'non-starter'

Published (2/27/2009)
By Nick Busse
Share on: 



Sporting his Adrian Peterson jersey, Larry Spooner listens while Roy Terwilliger, chairman of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, tells the House Local Government Division Feb. 23 about the need for a new Vikings stadium. It’s been a 12-year passion for Spooner, who co-chairs Minnesota Momentum with former Vikings head coach Bud Grant, a group pushing to get a new stadium for the 2008 NFC North Division Champions. (Photo by Tom Olmscheid)The idea of using public money to help finance a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings was met with a chilly reception by members of a House division Feb. 23.

Speaking before the House Local Government Division, Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission Chairman Roy Terwilliger was among those making their case for a new facility to house the team. No action was taken.

Arguing that the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome is obsolete and no longer up to National Football League standards, Terwilliger laid out plans for a new stadium where the Metrodome now stands. He said Minnesota is in danger of losing the Vikings when their current use agreement with the facility expires in 2011.

Terwilliger said he understands the state is facing a difficult fiscal situation, but argued that keeping the Vikings and other professional sports teams is important to Minnesota’s overall quality of life.

“We certainly recognize the needs that are out there and such,” Terwilliger said. “But at the same time, we have a job to do.”

Rep. Bev Scalze (DFL-Little Canada) was among the division members who criticized the proposal as being too much to ask during a time of economic crisis.

“You know what the budget situation is,” Scalze told Terwilliger. “We’ve got a 20 percent deficit out of our current budget. It’s like telling somebody over their kitchen table, ‘Take 20 percent out of what you currently use to run your family and cut it out.’”

Scalze added that Minnesota faces long-term challenges beyond the current biennial deficit, such as an aging population that will demand more health care funding.

Bill Rhoda, a principal with Conventions, Sports and Leisure International, said construction of a new stadium would create thousands of jobs and generate millions of dollars of direct and indirect tax revenue for the state.

Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Jordan) expressed doubt about Rhoda’s prediction that some $32 million a year in sales and income tax revenue would be lost without a new stadium. He said families might simply spend their money elsewhere, such as at a college sports game or a theater.

Calling the idea of a publicly funded stadium a “non-starter,” Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Mpls) encouraged the commission to look either at private funding for a new stadium or rehabilitation options for the Metrodome.

Session Weekly More...


Session Weekly Home



Related Stories


Committee drops stadium bill for a loss
Hail Mary could be needed for funding plan to pass this year
(view full story) Published 5/6/2010

Minnesota Index: The cost of alcohol use
Figures and statistics on alcohol in Minnesota
(view full story) Published 4/29/2010

Minnesota Index: Twins Territory
Figures and statistics on Target Field and the Minnesota Twins
(view full story) Published 4/8/2010

Minnesota Index: Talkin' baseball
Figures and statistics on baseball in Minnesota
(view full story) Published 4/3/2009

Minnesota Index: 'Want to get away?'
Figures and statistics on Minnesota's tourism and hospitality industries
(view full story) Published 3/27/2009