Mondale: Time 'not on our side' for Vikings stadium this year

With the Legislature convening next week, Gov. Mark Dayton's chief stadium negotiator said time was the project's "biggest enemy."

By mikekaszuba

January 21, 2012 at 6:10AM
Gov. Mark Dayton said Wednesday he is leaning toward a site near the Basilica of St. Mary in downtown Minneapolis for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium, saying it appears the most workable, but added that the Metrodome could be a potential fallback location. But the governor, speaking for the first time since reviewing multiple stadium plans submitted last Thursday, said that the three front-running sites for a new stadium all had major problems that could block a stadium solution by the Legislatu
With Gov. Dayton in the background, Ted Mondale, the leader of Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, points to a chart showing the issues with each stadium site proposal. (Dml - Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Gov. Mark Dayton's chief stadium negotiator said Friday that "time is not on our side right now" for getting a Minnesota Vikings stadium plan through the Legislature this year, though he said proponents were still pushing for it to happen.

But Ted Mondale, the governor's stadium point person, said the stadium's prospects could dramatically change should supporters agree on a stadium site and a public funding mechanism for the project. Dayton said this week that while he leaned toward a new stadium near the Basilica of St. Mary in downtown Minneapolis, he said all of the proposed locations for the project still had multiple problems.

Mondale said however that time may be the project's "biggest enemy" in trying to finalize the proposal for legislators.

Mondale's comments came Friday – four days before the Legislature convenes and with Republican majority leaders saying they want a quick legislative session.

"Those who oppose public funding for a stadium have had a year – two years – of free-for-all attacks on the idea and the concepts" for the stadium, said Mondale. On the other hand, stadium supporters have "had nothing to advocate for," he said.

He predicted that the region's top business leaders and labor unions would quickly get behind the stadium once a proposal was finalized. "In Minnesota, when business and labor can agree on something that they want, it generally gets done," said Mondale.

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