Vikings to Taxpayers: Pay for Two-Thirds of a Stadium, All of a Roof

by Michael David Smith

Filed under: Vikings, NFC North

The Minnesota Vikings want to move out of the Metrodome and into a new stadium. And they want the taxpayers to foot the majority of the bill.

The deal the team has offered the state legislature is that the team will pay for one-third of the cost of a football stadium, and the government (meaning the taxpayers) will have to pay for the rest. But the Vikings also want to make it clear that they will only pay for one-third of the cost of an outdoor stadium. A domed stadium costs more, and the Vikings won't pay for the costs associated with having a roof on the stadium.

"A roof does not provide any benefit to the Vikings," Lester Bagley, the Vikings' point man on stadium issues, said in the interview with the Associated Press. "It also costs a couple hundred million dollars more in capital costs, in addition to the operating costs that are much higher for a covered facility."

 

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