Minnesotans are tired of building new stadiums. They should be. There was a time (albeit just one year a generation ago) when the Vikings, Twins, Timberwolves and Gophers football team all played in the Metrodome. Each of them now either has or is building its own stadium. The Wild has its own building, whereas in a lot of markets the NBA and NHL teams share an arena.
We are a combination of overbuilt and overspent, with palaces such as Xcel Energy Center, Target Field, TCF Bank Stadium and the new Vikings stadium — not to mention a new ballpark for the Saints — eating up more than a combined $1 billion in public funding alone (more than was spent on the private contributions). This doesn't even include renovations to Target Center.
If everyone had it to do all over again (everyone but the teams feasting on the profits, that is), we probably would have done it differently. It's unnecessary to spend gobs of money on two pro arenas for hockey and basketball when one really would do. It's a little crazy, even though the audiences are slightly different, to construct two huge new football stadiums so close together in both proximity and timing.
The same could be said, we suppose, for the notion of now considering building one more stadium: an open-air Major League Soccer facility near Target Field and Target Center. The new Vikings stadium can be configured for soccer. It wouldn't be as good of a gameday experience, but it would work. Should we always have to have the best?
In general, no. But in this case … it adds up. An ownership group led by Bill McGuire was awarded an MLS expansion franchise. That group is willing to pay the $100 million expansion fee and almost all of the $150 million cost associated with the stadium. The group wants some tax relief. That's about it.
It's drop-in-the-bucket stuff compared to every other stadium we've built, and it's in line with standard operating procedure for a lot of new businesses coming into an area.
The United group had a keen sense of its bad timing and came in with a plan that is more than just palatable. It's fair. It might even be a good deal for the state and city, something that is rare. Their bad timing shouldn't diminish a good plan.
That story linked above, by the way, includes perhaps the greatest single user comment in Startribune.com history from someone with the moniker cutthebull:
