Mayor Coleman voices concerns about stadium funding

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said Tuesday he is concerned about a plan to tie state funding for a Vikings stadium to Target Center renovations.

Minneapolis city leaders say they'll support a new downtown football stadium only if the plan allows the city to shift tax money for a $150 million facelift for the 22-year-old Target Center basketball arena.

They need the legislature's approval to do that, and have said they'd only support a downtown Vikings facility if the stadium plan includes the Target Center renovations.

After meeting with Gov. Mark Dayton Tuesday afternoon, Coleman said that plan would put the Xcel Energy Center at a disadvantage. Sprucing up Target Center in Minneapolis will hurt the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, he said.

"There has to be balance in this region. Regionalism means that both sides of the river are strong," Coleman said.

As long as we view any solution from that perspective, we'll be just fine." In a statement, Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak said both the Xcel and Target centers should be fixed so that a decade from now there's not another debate about the homes of the Timberwolves, Lynx and Wild.