Vikings stadium now in Mpls. council's hands

What may be the final act in Minnesota's NFL stadium drama -- at least on the political stage -- may play out this week, starting at Minneapolis City Hall on Monday. That's when the Minneapolis City Council's Ways and Means committee will start off a week of deliberation on the stadium bill signed by Gov. Mark Dayton.

The entire council, meeting as a different committee, is scheduled to take up the matter again on Thursday. The council is expected to take final action on a proposed billion dollar Vikings stadium on Friday.

The city is required by the state constitution to ratify the stadium plan. The deal depends on a shift of sales and hospitality taxes to pay for stadium debt, after the taxes pay off the city's Convention Center bonds in 2020. That money is expected to pay off the $150 million the city has pledged up front to the project, as well as debt for the Target Center, now footed by property taxpayers.

The issue already won narrow council approval in a test vote this spring.