Strib, online at this link, reports:
Vikings stadium deal is heating up in Legislature --- Senate Taxes Chairman Tom Bakk says a bill is in the works, while team officials now say they're confident about their chances
By MIKE KASZUBA, Star Tribune - update: April 8, 2010, 11:08 AM
A deal to build a new Vikings stadium seems to be gathering momentum at the State Capitol, with a top DFL senator saying Wednesday that "most of the pieces" of a legislative proposal were "pretty much drafted."
Senate Taxes Chairman Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said that he has been working on the bill with others and that there is "plenty of time" to pass it before the Legislature adjourns in mid-May.
Earlier in the day, Vikings President Mark Wilf told a group of business leaders that he was "confident" the National Football League team would be able to strike a deal to obtain public subsidies to build a new stadium.
The behind-the-scenes maneuvering for a controversial $870 million stadium appears to be intensifying, even though no formal legislation has been introduced.
Lester Bagley, who directs the Vikings' stadium development efforts, said Wednesday that a public subsidy request by the team would likely include "a number of different revenue streams" and that legislative leaders along with local business officials were privately conferring over which package would likely get the most support.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has increasingly commented on the need to find a stadium solution, floated the idea in February of using proceeds from a state lottery game.
Outwardly, at least, the Legislature has had little to say about a Vikings stadium so far this year. Before Easter, as legislators debated a jobs creation bill, the House voted 132-0 against using any parts of the legislation "to assist the state, any subdivision or agency of the state, a local government, or any private entity or person in financing or constructing a stadium or ballpark."
"If you wanted to test the temperature of the legislative support [for a Vikings stadium], I would use that as a reference point," Phil Krinkie, president of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, said Wednesday. "That to me would indicate the wind is in your face."
That's an extended excerpt, but the original link has more.
Enact the Minnesota Health Plan. Let the Wilf family fund their hobby team, or move it. If the league allows a move, if they want to move, bless them. The earth would still turn on the same axis even if the Vikings left town for LA.