At Capitol, Vikings owner Wilf pushes stadium
Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf was making the rounds at the State Capitol Thursday, trying to drum up support for a bill to give his team a new stadium.
A proposal introduced in the Legislature this week lays out a plan for building a roofed football stadium, which would divide the cost between the team, the state and a local government host.
Asked about the bill's terms, Wilf wasn't specific about what percentage of the cost the Vikings would pay.
"We've committed and continue to commit a large sum of private funds, our own funds, to making sure this happens," said Wilf. "We'll ... find an equitable way of making sure that all parties participate to making sure that this gets done."
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No location for a stadium has been identified yet, although officials in Ramsey County have floated a site in Arden Hills as one possibility.
Vikings Vice President Lester Bagley said he doesn't think there will be many location options, and no point to having a site selection committee as called for in the bill.
"Our hope is that the bill can be evolved once the site is selected," Bagley said. "The local piece, the revenues that are talked about in the bill, those are tools to give to a local partner to put together a finance deal. And that's what we're working on."
The stadium bill has not yet been scheduled for a hearing in either the House or the Senate.