Vikings Stadium Not Included In Special Session
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- The special session came and went Wednesday without any talk of a new Vikings stadium.
Governor Mark Dayton didn't hold back when asked why a Vikings stadium bill wasn't included in the special session.
"It's incomplete and unsatisfactory. I said that a month ago. Nobody's addressed it. The notion that it was all set to go and we held up is simply not true. It takes every partner to make this deal happen and that hasn't occurred yet," said Dayton.
It is not the response the Vikings or Ramsey County Commissioner Tony Bennett wanted to hear.
In May, the team and the county agreed to a stadium deal in Arden Hills, and Bennett doesn't blame Vikings owner Zygi Wilf for being very frustrated
"I would think any business man today would feel that way. His patience would be wearing thin," said Bennett.
But Bennett said he's not giving up on the Arden Hills site, and he hopes lawmakers don't either.
"I think they need to let the temperatures cool down and realize this is an asset and there is potential it could go. I don't think anybody wants to lose the Vikings, but I also look at the jobs and the costs that are factored in the longer we continue to delay this," said Bennett.
In the meantime, the Metrodome has had a shutdown of its own. This will be the last year of the Vikings' lease at the Metrodome. The roof collapse forced them to play a couple games elsewhere last season, including one at Ford Field in Detroit. Now there is the news that the Metrodome turf will need to be replaced before the team can return.
The cost of the new turf is expected to be at least $470,000. The Vikings and Ramsey County said it's just another sign that the stadium issue has gone past the fourth quarter, overtime and everything else. They are hoping their bill will get its own special session this fall.
"If it gets ready, when it gets ready, if it builds a people's stadium then I will seriously consider calling a special session," said Governor Dayton.
The Arden Hills stadium plan would cost at least $650 million in state and county funding. But Bennett said the Arden Hills stadium would create more than 13,000 construction jobs.
The Vikings have submitted a claim for insurance costs for the new Metrodome turf, but it's unclear if those costs will be covered.
