
The plan to build a new Minnesota Vikings stadium in a Twin Cities suburb would take longer and cost more than estimated by the team and strain Ramsey County's tax capacity, according to agencies asked by Gov. Mark Dayton to analyze the proposal.
Dayton commissioned the study in August. Metropolitan Council Chairwoman Susan Haigh and Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission Chairman Ted Mondale discussed details Wednesday after the report on the proposed stadium site in Arden Hills was released.
Dayton, in a news release expressing his neutrality on site of the project, told team owners they must tell the state "whether they will accept the possibly longer timeline to build the stadium at their preferred Arden Hills site and whether they will pay for any resulting additional costs."
The Vikings won a victory Tuesday night when a Ramsey County panel rejected calling a public vote on a proposed half-cent sales tax increase to pay the county's share of the project.
But the study by Dayton's administration raised some red flags. Mondale said the construction schedule, to complete the stadium in time for the 2015 NFL season, was "too aggressive."
The report also expressed concern that environmental cleanup of the site would take longer than the year estimated by the team and the county. And it expressed concern that St. Paul, the seat of Ramsey County, would assume the highest retail tax rate in the seven-county metropolitan area.
The Vikings are in the final year of their lease at the Metrodome and there is concern the team might leave without a new home. The joint proposal by Ramsey County and the Vikings calls for transforming 430 acres of a polluted former Army ammunitions plant into a stadium with ample parking for pregame tailgating plus future residential and commercial development.
The cost of the entire project is estimated at more than $1.1 billion, including a $407 million contribution from the team, $300 million from the state, $15 million from the MSFC and $350 million from the county via the sales tax hike.
Dayton said he'd meet with Vikings owners, legislative leaders, local officials and others in the coming days to discuss the project.