Dayton Sets Deadline For Vikings Stadium Proposals

Will they stay or will they go?  Looks like we will know this year the fate of the stadium and, ultimately, the Minnesota Vikings.  It's good to set dates so it just doesn't linger out there forever, right?

Accelerating the push for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium, Gov. Mark Dayton sent letters Thursday to Ramsey County and Minneapolis setting Jan. 12 as the deadline for their final proposals for the project.

Dayton said the timeline was set in conjunction with the chief stadium legislation authors in the House and Senate, Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, and Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont.

"It should contain as much detailed information as possible about your proposed means to finance your local share of the project" and also "the reasons you believe your site to be superior," the governor said.

For the past year, the Vikings plan to move from the 30-year-old Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis has been thwarted by widespread public opposition to using taxpayer money for the project along with disagreement on how it would be publicly funded. Ramsey County last year partnered with the team on a $1.1 billion stadium proposal in Arden Hills, but the county has struggled to find a local funding source.

Minneapolis has offered three downtown sites for the stadium, but Mayor R. T. Rybak said he prefers the Metrodome site because it is cheaper and surrounded by existing infrastructure. Vikings officials, while still insisting that they prefer Arden Hills, have in recent weeks been studying a downtown Minneapolis site near the Basilica of St. Mary.

via Dayton: Jan. 12 deadline for Vikings stadium proposals | StarTribune.com.