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Vikings Stadium Campaign


JerryRice-G.O.A.T.
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For all you Vikings fans outside the great state of Minnesota:

 

If you support a new Vikings stadium, stop by the following website to check out the plans and sign up to support it.

 

Minnesota Momentum

 

Zygi has promised a boat party on Minnetonka for all supporters should this campaign produce a stadium. (ok, i keed, i keed!)

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Its 1.5 Billion dollar complex with 1 billion of it being private money. I hope they get it passed in the legislature this year.

 

 

 

 

 

ST. PAUL (AP) - The Minnesota Vikings are starting a public relations blitz as the 2006 legislative session gets underway, aimed at stirring up support for the team's stadium request.

 

Television and radio advertisements will air throughout the state for a week, as the team attempts to group itself with the Minnesota Twins and the University of Minnesota - who both have stadium proposals that are given a greater chance of success at the Capitol.

 

The spots tout the proposed stadium complex in Blaine, which the team has dubbed Northern Lights, contending it would be an economic goldmine for the region.

 

"Northern Lights will be made possible by an investment of $1 billion from Vikings ownership," a radio voice proclaims. "That's $1 billion in private investment to create new economic activity and thousands of jobs."

 

The weeklong ad buy is the first salvo in a campaign that is likely to cost the Vikings $1 million or more, sports business consultants told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. For the team itself, the potential payoff is huge under a stadium proposal that could generate many millions in new revenue.

 

The campaign was created by Winner & Mandabach, of Santa Monica, Calif., which claims a 90 percent win record in 140 issue campaigns.

 

But it's an uphill battle. Of the three teams seeking stadiums, the Vikings are seen as needing one the least, with many state officials viewing the Metrodome as an adequate home for football. The Vikings' lease at the Metrodome doesn't expire until 2011.

 

Political leaders, too, have said that approving three separate stadiums in one legislative session might be a tough sell for the public. Add to that, the Vikings have performed erratically on the field and have had considerable trouble off it.

 

Still, the team, let by new owner Zygi Wilf, is dangling an economic windfall for the region - a $1.5 billion public-private venture that includes parks, offices, stores and a 250-room hotel. The team has promised to invest $1 billion, with the rest coming from the state and a 0.75 percent Anoka County sales tax increase.

 

The proposed sales tax is running into opposition on the county level, with a group of opponents demanding documents and communications from the Anoka County Board.

 

"We are very concerned about the manner in which the Anoka County Board has promoted its effort to bring the Minnesota Vikings to Anoka County," wrote Ron Holch and Dann Dobson of the Taxpayers for an Anoka County Stadium Referendum in a Monday letter to the board's chairwoman.

 

Dobson, a non-practicing attorney in St. Paul, said the group wants to examine many issues.

 

The Vikings and the county contend the project would create 3,900 construction jobs and 9,000 permanent jobs. Wilf has been speaking to metro business groups promoting the complex, saying the idea that the state can't handle three stadium requests at a time is "baloney."

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If they can't get a deal like this one to pass, then it's never going to happen.  It's a no-brainer.  Let a guy pump in a billion of his own money into the economic growth of the state.  Tell me why they wouldn't like this.

 

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Just call it general cynicism that I have in our elected officials.

 

1. The Vikings stadium legislation is way down the list of priorities this year when the legislature meets. I can't see the House and Senate reversing themselves even when a deal like this is presented to them. Especially when they are talking about a new Gophers stadium first, and Twins second.

 

2. The anti-stadium groups that abhore the thought of even $1 of public money going to a stadium will be out in full force, never mind the fact that Zygi is willing to foot $1 billion himself. There's still the fact the $500 million will be coming from public sources, and that's a political hot potato.

 

3. Legislators are primarily lawyers, not businessmen. While it may make good business sense to approve this package, there will be much hand-wringing at the Capitol if this goes through. Were there sweetheart deals made? Were legal corners cut? Etc. This will get so bogged down in debate that it will die a slow, lingering death.

 

Just a few items off the top of my head there. While I agree with you that this is as good a deal as they're likely to present, I have zero faith in those duly elected chowderheads to realize it, let alone act on it.

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Just call it general cynicism that I have in our elected officials.

 

1. The Vikings stadium legislation is way down the list of priorities this year when the legislature meets.  I can't see the House and Senate reversing themselves even when a deal like this is presented to them.  Especially when they are talking about a new Gophers stadium first, and Twins second.

 

2. The anti-stadium groups that abhore the thought of even $1 of public money going to a stadium will be out in full force, never mind the fact that Zygi is willing to foot $1 billion himself.  There's still the fact the $500 million will be coming from public sources, and that's a political hot potato.

 

3. Legislators are primarily lawyers, not businessmen.  While it may make good business sense to approve this package, there will be much hand-wringing at the Capitol if this goes through.  Were there sweetheart deals made?  Were legal corners cut? Etc.  This will get so bogged down in debate that it will die a slow, lingering death.

 

Just a few items off the top of my head there.  While I agree with you that this is as good a deal as they're likely to present, I have zero faith in those duly elected chowderheads to realize it, let alone act on it.

 

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Spot on info here. The Twins have one of the best deals ever to build a stadium on the table and they STILL can't get any progress. The Gophers also are in dire need of a stadium. The Vikings have no chance and the state will only have itself to blame when basketball and hockey are the only two games in town. These stadiums should have been built years ago, like every forward-thinking city has done.

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While the cynicism is well warranted....if the state takes a look at it, there isn't all that much being asked of them. $115 mill is all the money asked for, from the state,to go towards infrastructure. The only other thing the state has to do is give permission to Anoka County to institute the tax they need to pay their share, without making them take a referendum to the voters.

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I was never in favor of handouts to Red for a new stadium. But this is even more advantagous than giving Ford Motor Co. handouts to keep their MN plant open. It may surprise you :D ,but government officials dish out more bucks than this without blinking.

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While the cynicism is well warranted....if the state takes a look at it, there isn't all that much being asked of them. $115 mill is all the money asked for, from the state,to go towards infrastructure.  The only other thing the state has to do is give permission to Anoka County to institute the tax they need to pay their share, without making them take a referendum to the voters.

 

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That's exactly the point. It's a no-brainer deal, as is the Twins stadium. Any fool should be able to see that, but there's enough professional whiners here to sink both stadiums unless they're not only free (to the state) but give them a share of the profits too.

 

A cold Omaha in 5 years.

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I was never in favor of handouts to Red for a new stadium.  But this is even more advantagous than giving Ford Motor Co. handouts to keep their MN plant open.  It may surprise you  :D ,but government officials dish out more bucks than this without blinking.

 

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Correct. Target, Best Buy and Northwest have all sucked on the government tit without a peep coming from the people noisily opposing any stadium on the basis of "corporate welfare".

 

The Guthrie Theater got a free handout of $35m and who the heck ever goes there? The people that oppose those nasty sports, that's who.

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Tis a situation that people automatically react to in a negative way. State money for a new stadium? NEVER! Let the billionaires foot the bill, the players are whiners, and we should focus on edumication and keeping jobs (Target, Best Buy, Ford, Northwest, etc.) Never mind the fact they are ignoring the construction jobs, seasonal jobs, and ancillary jobs from businesses that will spring up around the proposed stadium site. Besides, who do you really hurt if the pro team goes away? Only those that go to the games (conveniently forgetting the aforementioned seasonal workers and ancillary businesses).

 

Yet, should any of the corporate shops close down, it's holy hell. Gotta have a place to shop, and what about all the jobs there? Never mind they're also losing money hand over fist due to whatever reasons. The thing is with that, the jobs are much more visible, as you have an entire group of workers on the street all at once. The perception is those must be saved, lest unemployment run rampant, the taxpayer be darned. A nasty little double standard.

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