Editorial: Key backing for Vikes

Respected state Sen. Tom Bakk emerged this week as a legislative leader in the effort to find a stadium solution for the Minnesota Vikings. That's a hopeful sign that the team's future will not be ignored this legislative session and that another long and critical stadium debate will soon come to a head.

Bakk, the DFLer who chairs the Senate Taxes Committee, said he has been working with other legislators to draft a stadium financing bill and that there is "plenty of time" to pass it before the Legislature adjourns in mid-May.

This page will reserve final judgment until more details are known, but as we argued in January, the Legislature needs to offer Minnesotans a possible solution before the team's Metrodome lease expires in 2011. (Full disclosure: Development of the Metrodome site could benefit the Star Tribune, which owns nearby property.)

It doesn't hurt the Vikings that Target Field is playing to rave reviews at the other end of downtown Minneapolis, or that interest rates and construction costs remain low while unemployment in the construction trades is high. The team's success on the field and stronger-than-ever statewide popularity also help the cause.

A financing plan being mentioned at the Capitol calls for a tax on sports memorabilia and clothing; a hospitality and lodging tax in the metro area, and the sale of special license plates or a new lottery game to help finance an $870 million, retractable-roof stadium that would be home to the Vikings and the 200 events held each year in the Dome. The team would need to make a 40-year commitment to the state, and its owners would contribute in the neighborhood of $200 million. Expect all of these figures to change, and for the final financing package to include some other elements.

For now, it's a positive that the Vikings and key legislators are starting to bring the discussion into the open. We'd still like to hear from business organizations such as the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, which has a major stake in the future of professional sports in this market.

The Vikings are a long way from winning the latest stadium game, but at least a serious lawmaker is at work trying to keep the team in Minnesota, where it belongs.