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Stadium plans back on the Capitol agenda
December 15, 2004

Republican House Speaker Steve Sviggum predicts the Legislature will approve plans for two new sports stadiums in Minnesota -- one for the U of M football team, the other for the Twins baseball team. "The time has come, folks. The time has come to make a decision," he says. (MPR file photo)

The debate over sports stadiums is alive again at the Minnesota Capitol. Republican House Speaker Steve Sviggum predicted Tuesday that the 2005 Legislature will approve funding for new stadiums for the University of Minnesota football team and the Minnesota Twins. Other state officials aren't nearly as confident, but they say the issue will likely be debated again next year.

St. Paul, Minn. — Despite a $700 million projected revenue shortfall for the next biennium, House speaker Steve Sviggum says he believes lawmakers will finally act on the stadium issue after years of failed attempts. Sviggum says it won't be the first or the most important item on lawmakers' agendas, but he is confident there will be action on a plan that funds a University of Minnesota football stadium and a new Twins ballpark.

"I suspect that the stadium issue will pass. The time has come, folks. The time has come to make a decision," Sviggum says. "It will be done without state taxpayer dollars. It will be done without general fund monies. So there will be no compromise of legislators between funding education and funding a stadium."

Just how it would be done without state money remains to be seen, especially since the proposed new stadiums cost so much. The university is looking at a $220 million football stadium. University officials say they would raise 60 percent of the total from private sources. That leaves an $80 million gap.

The Twins have talked about a stadium that would cost about $500 million, of which the team would pay about one-third.

In terms of where the stadium is in the pecking order, it's not on the front burner. It's something that we remain open to. - Gov. Tim Pawlenty

State Senate DFL Majority Leader Dean Johnson has been a supporter of a new Twins stadium in past years. He is less optimistic than Sviggum that a plan will pass in 2005. He says the University of Minnesota prospects look brightest, but building even that stadium without any state money would be tough.

"The one issue that will confront us is if the state of Minnesota with the university -- if we are involved in the financing with general obligation bonds -- will in fact be something of $6 million to $7 million annually of debt service," says Johnson. "One thing we could do is authorize the university to do the borrowing under this package. But it's quite clear that the Gopher stadium on campus has the most appeal."

Last year lawmakers considered a stadium plan that included more than $1 billion for new Twins and Vikings stadiums, but it foundered as Legislative negotiations broke down on almost all the major issues of the session.

With the latest projections of another budget shortfall, and increasing calls for more education funding and the need to rein in rising health care costs, Gov. Tim Pawlenty says the stadium issue is not high on his list for 2005.

"In terms of where the stadium is in the pecking order, it's not on the front burner. It's something that we remain open to," Pawlenty says. "It's something that I think is important to get resolved in the intermediate term, but I think we've got to tackle some of these more important issues first."

Left out of even the new tentative stadium talks are the Minnesota Vikings. The team has stopped lobbying for a new stadium, and none of the leaders is predicting that the team could get state help for a new stadium next year.

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