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September 12, 2005
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| Zygi Wilf, the East Coast developer who became the team's owner in June, made the rounds of state leaders Monday to begin making his case for a publicly subsidized stadium. (MPR Photo/Laura McCallum) |
St. Paul, Minn. — (AP) Zygi Wilf, the fresh face at the helm of the Minnesota Vikings, is diving into a years-long fight that has confounded his predecessors: Securing a new football stadium.
Wilf, the East Coast developer who became the team's owner in June, made the rounds of state leaders Monday to begin making his case for a publicly subsidized stadium. He shared lunch with Gov. Tim Pawlenty before bouncing from meeting to meeting with legislative leaders in the afternoon.
Wilf said he wanted to learn "where the pulse of the Legislature" is while giving lawmakers an update on the team's discussions with Anoka County, the likely site of a new stadium.
He said he hoped to relay that he sees himself as "the guardian of an institution as much as the owner of a team" and has no plans to move the Vikings.
The Vikings are under lease to play in the Metrodome until 2011. But team officials have said for years that the facility is no longer adequate and plans need to be in place to begin construction well before the lease runs out.
Anoka County leaders, which see the football stadium as the centerpiece of a larger development in Blaine, are putting the final touches on a financing plan. Steve Novak, the county's pointman on the stadium, said the proposal could be ready for release next week.
It is expected to call for a higher local sales tax, some money from the state and a team contribution, although Novak wouldn't get into the details. Wilf wouldn't comment on financing either after his meeting with Senate Minority Leader Dick Day, R-Owatonna.
Day, who never met former owner Red McCombs face to face, said Wilf left a good first impression.
"The first thing he said out of the chute was `I want you to know I'm never going to threaten to move the team to get a stadium,"' Day said. "The last thing I want here is for someone coming in threatening me. We've heard that. The Twins did that for a while. Minnesotans don't like that."
For his part, Day told Wilf that the chances of a fall special session to deal with stadium legislation were growing more remote.
Before his meeting with Wilf, Pawlenty was equally pessimistic about quick action.
"To the extent the legislative leaders would like a special session, I'll hear them out. But I haven't made any decisions on that," he said.
Even if he does call lawmakers in, he suggested the Vikings are third in line - behind the University of Minnesota football team and the Minnesota Twins baseball team.
Wilf told Day he mostly wanted an assurance that the Vikings would get a chance to make their pitch.
"We're ready to be part of the mix," Wilf said.
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