The Minnesota Vikings supposedly are going to announce plans Friday to pay for more stuff at the new $1 billion "People's" stadium, but nobody was willing to say what it was Thursday.
The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority's (MSFA) agenda for Friday said the body will "approve project budget amendments" at the regularly scheduled meeting. The chair of the MSFA is Michele Kelm-Helgen, the governor's appointee to the board.
Asked for detail about the agenda, MSFA spokeswoman Jenn Hathaway said the item involves "additional items the team is funding." When asked what those are and what they cost, she said she didn't know what the items are.
The Vikings provided no additional information.
Spokesman Jeff Anderson gave a 9-word answer: "We are scheduled to talk about it tomorrow. Thanks."
For a public body, the MSFA provides extremely sparse agendas.
Most governmental bodies provide more explanation, sometimes pages and pages of documents. That's in contrast to the MSFA agenda line of four words to explain a price increase.
The point of putting out an agenda is to give the public notice and information about what will be discussed at a meeting involving a public body making decisions about public money. Roughly half the cost of the $1 billion new stadium is being covered by the public.
In contrast, the Minnesota Ballpark Authority that runs Target Field, makes an effort to provide a full explanation of agenda items at least two days in advance of a meeting.
