Stadium Watch Blog

Stadium planners host environmental open house tonight at Metrodome
Fans, neighbors and others can get an up-close look at the impact the new “multi-purpose” stadium will have on the east end of downtown Minneapolis tonight. The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority is hosting an open house to talk about its draft Environmental Impact Statement, a 389-page summary of the legal, environmental and historical situation that…
Pressure off charities with new Vikings stadium funding
Legislators in the Minnesota House passed their big tax bill early this morning, and it’s soon to be a whole new day for Vikings stadium funding. The measure includes the provisions that back up the gambling revenue with new cigarette and corporate income taxes. When it gets passed, as expected, by the Senate, electronic gambling won’t…
Birders worry about glassy new Vikings stadium design
Football fans were reveling over the design of the new Vikings stadium this week, but bird watchers remain skeptical. Glass, they say, kills birds. And it looks like there’s a LOT of glass on that new stadium. The issue actually came up back in November, in a review of the stadium project’s proposed environmental impact…
Dayton administration unveils ‘secret’ stadium finance plan
So long electronic gambling taxes, hello cigarette taxes and additional corporate income taxes. That’s Governor Mark Dayton’s plan to close the revenue gap in the Vikings stadium financing plan. The tax earmarks were laid out  today  by revenue commissioner Myron Frans in a House-Senate Tax Conference Committee, to be included in this session’s omnibus tax…
Dayton’s “secret plan” on Vikings funding taking shape at Capitol
The plan to boost Vikings stadium-bound revenue likely won’t include a sports memorabilia tax.  That proposal appears dead. Supporter of the memorabilia proposal House Taxes chair Ann Lenczewski announced at a conference committee meeting that she’d opted to back the governor’s so-called “secret” plan to make up for the shortfall in gambling tax revenues. Electronic…
Vikings stadium backup funding hits new snag
A proposal to tax sports memorabilia to help backfill disappointing Vikings stadium revenues has come up against another state institution:  Target. Senate tax chair Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook, says lawmakers are rethinking the 10 to 13 percent tax on jerseys, bats, balls, gloves, shoes, trading cards and all manner of other sports-themed products, even children’s onezies…
Blockbuster development slated for Vikings stadium district
A massive, 5-block, nearly $400 million development is headed for the area just west of the planned new Vikings stadium. The city of Minneapolis, Ryan Cos. and the Star Tribune announced the project this afternon. It will include $320 million in office and housing in two privately-developed towers, near where the Star Tribune’s current building…
No retractable roof, but lots of blue sky for new Vikings stadium
Stadium builders have unveiled their vision for Minnesota’s new NFL stadium: it’s part fluoroplastic, part Viking sailing ship and an angular nod to other Minneapolis landmarks like the Walker Art Center and the Guthrie Theater. And the roof won’t be opening. That said, the south half of the roof will be sheathed in ETFE, a…
Vikings stadium design debuts tonight; Star Tribune HQ news also coming
Minnesotans will get their first look this week at what will replace the Metrodome and, likely, the Star Tribune’s nearby headquarters. Architects, the Vikings and the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority are unveiling their plans for the final design of the billion-dollar stadium project tonight. It’s been more than a decade in the making, and planners say it…