The momentum-gathering plan for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium cleared another hurdle at the state Capitol on Tuesday, passing through a second Senate panel, this time unanimously.
The proposal for the nearly $1 billion stadium, which could face a House floor vote as early as Wednesday, continued an extraordinary political march at the Legislature after being left for dead barely a week ago. In the Senate, the public subsidy package for the stadium seems likewise headed for a floor vote in the next few days.
"It feels like a first down, [and] another first down – got a good drive going here," said Sen. Geoff Michel, R-Edina, who chairs the Senate Jobs and Economic Growth Committee. The Senate panel passed the proposal unanimously on a voice vote Tuesday. "I think, after awhile, it starts to take on a little bit of momentum and an air of inevitability," said Michel.
Tuesday's action showed that stadium supporters were again trying to steer the proposal through a series of House and Senate committees without, if possible, having legislators individually vote on the project.
Of the five House and Senate panels that have debated the Vikings stadium plan this month, three of the panels have passed the proposal on simple voice votes. In one of the two hearings where there was a roll call vote – with legislators having to cast individual votes – the plan failed.
Since National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell visited the state Capitol last Friday, the Vikings stadium plan has not only been resurrected but gained increasing political steam. Some legislators however have complained that the quickened pace of the proposal – and the political short cuts being taken – might be offensive to the public. Sen. Richard Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, said the Legislature's treatment of the Vikings stadium plan in the past few days was making lawmakers look like "a total gang of idiots."
But there were dangers Tuesday that the stadium proposal was taking on too much financial weight – including a plan to have it also provide $43 million in debt relief for St. Paul's River Centre and Xcel Energy Center.
The chief Senate author of the stadium legislation said using a Vikings stadium plan as a vehicle for debt relief in St. Paul was "not doable", and afterward she said that the provision would likely have to be dropped in order for the Vikings stadium plan to succeed. "That will have to come down significantly. Forty-three million is a tremendous amount of money," said Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, the chief Senate stadium author.