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| A sketch of the proposed stadium in Anoka County. (Minnesota Vikings/Anoka County) |
Blaine, Minn. — Just a few months ago, commercial real estate developer Zygi Wilf paid more than $600 million for the Minnesota Vikings. Now, he's ready to spend $280 million of his own money on a $675 million stadium.
"Yes the Vikings are privately owned. But as I found out, it's something we have to protect. It's part of our fiber," he said.
Wilf and the Anoka County Board of Commissioners say because the Vikings are apart of the state's cultural makeup, taxpayers should help pay for a new home for the team. Wilf says he has no intentions of moving the team and he says the new stadium, which would include an adjacent 850,000 sq. ft. shopping center, would become a regional attraction.
"With this development we intend to build a Vikings legacy, a facility that parallels the state's other attractions like the Guthrie Theater and the Mall of America and the Xcel Energy Center. Which really has helped revitalize St. Paul," he said.
But the majority of the funding for the stadium will come through a couple of taxpayer-funded sources. The first would come through the creation of a tax increment finance -- or TIF -- district. The proposal calls for $115 million raised by the TIF district to help pay for the stadium's retractable roof.
Steve Novak, the stadium project manager for Anoka County, says over time the tax revenues will generate a surplus that can be used to pay for an additional $115 million in road construction. Novak says the construction projects, which include widening roads and highways that connect to the stadium site, have already been approved by MnDOT.
"We're suggesting, just like the Mall of America, that the state would be wise to consider the opportunity to have the project pay for these substantial road improvements that will benefit and improve life for the citizens of this state year 'round, whether they go to the games or not," according to Novak.
The other taxpayer-supported revenue source is the enactment of a three-quarters-of-a-cent sales tax in Anoka County. That would cover $280 million of stadium costs. However, the stadium proposal calls for an exemption from state laws that require the public to vote on tax hikes. And some, like John Knight from Citizens for a Stadium Tax Referendum, say it makes no sense to allow such an exemption.
"The thing that concerns me the most is that they want an exemption from the state law that requires a referendum," he says. "And this would raise over several hundred millions of dollars in taxes. And we require referendums for schools if they want to build gymnasiums, so I guess today I haven't heard any clear reason why they should get an exemption from state law."
Stadium proponents say one of the reasons they are seeking an exemption from the state law, is to expedite the process of getting the stadium built. They say they need to hurry because the Vikings lease in the Metrodome runs out in 2011 and they worry that construction and other costs will go up in the next year and make the deal void. In fact, they say unless the Legislature calls a special session, the deal will expire at the end of this year.
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