As Dayton defends Metrodome, key critic emerges

Gov. Mark Dayton said Tuesday that Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf was "disappointed and frustrated" when he told Wilf that the team would have to agree to build at the Metrodome for a new stadium to pass the Legislature this year.

But the governor, in detailing why he abruptly shifted the stadium debate to the Metrodome, said he felt that despite its limitations the Metrodome location in downtown Minneapolis could be a "very, very attractive site."

Only last week, the governor had labeled the Metrodome a "default" site for a new stadium, and said a Minneapolis proposal for the project was "meager."

As Dayton explained his about-face on Tuesday, a key critic emerged in Rep. Morrie Lanning, the chief House author of stadium legislation.

The governor's comments came as the Legislature convened Tuesday for the year, and Vikings stadium discussion filled the State Capitol. On Monday night, Dayton suddenly yanked the long-running Vikings stadium debate back to the Metrodome after he said he determined that an analysis of another location near the Basilica of St. Mary in downtown Minneapolis could not be completed in time for legislators to consider a public subsidy package this year.

Dayton said he came to the conclusion after meeting a second time last Friday with the Rev. John Bauer, the Basilica's rector. "After the first meeting with Father Bauer, I thought it was theoretically possible to work out" a solution to the Basilica's concerns over traffic, noise and vibration from a new Vikings stadium nearby, the governor said.

"After the meeting last Friday" Dayton added, however, "I concluded otherwise."

"For those who think that everything has shifted now – Metrodome is it, that's finished, it's a done deal. That's not where I'm at," said Lanning, who said the Metrodome location continued to have multiple drawbacks. "There are those who have already walked away from Arden Hills -- I have not done so."

The Vikings have since last year said that the team preferred a $1.1 billion stadium in Ramsey County's Arden Hills.

Dayton meanwhile announced that he would meet Wednesday with Wilf, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and others to discuss a new stadium at the Metrodome, where the team has played for three decades.

Dayton said that, in his discussion Monday with Wilf, the Vikings owner did not indicate whether the team was open to a new stadium at the Metrodome. The governor acknowledged that building at the Metrodome would require the team to play at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium for three years.