I wasn�t especially surprised to read in this today�s papers that the Vikings are not interested in pursuit of a stadium to be used both by the University of Minnesota and the Vikings. Not enough money in it for them they say.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/football/nfl/minnesota_vikings/4604595.htm http://www.startribune.com/stories/510/3456993.html I heard an interesting comment last night from an architect who knows a fair amount about the proposed stadium deals. I think what he said intuitively makes sense. He says that you can support a baseball stadium because with 80 some dates per year you generate enough money from spending both at the event and related to the event (i.e. before or after the event in drinks, meals, hotels, parking, shopping, etc.) to pay for the venue. With football only having 10 dates a year you don�t even come close to an economic justification. Why build 2 (or 3) competing public facilities? We�ve done that with Target Center vs. Xcel Center. First we bought the Target Center, now owned in one form or another by Minneapolis, then we (State of MN) supplied the money for St. Paul to build Xcel. Now Target is losing events to Xcel placing financial problems on Target in meeting its debt payments and keeping it up to date. The Vikings want us to forget this mistake and build multiple outdoor venues? I�m still skeptical about the economic impact, I�m uncertain how much of the money spent is money that wouldn�t otherwise be spent in the metro area or in the state. Does anyone have any idea where that data might be available? Terrell Brown Loring Park, Minneapolis terrell at terrellbrown dot org __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
