Friday, October 28, 2011

To reiterate... the Vikings do not have your best interests in mind

The Vikings have been unilaterally opposed to any plan for a new stadium that won't be built in Arden Hills on the site that they have picked out. The city of Minneapolis, the state, pretty much anyone with a brain has had other solutions that would be better for the state and for fans, only to have them shot down by the Vikings. Let's pretend for a moment that the stadium IS an important priority for the state and the Twin Cities and the economy of the region. Building the stadium in Arden Hills for a billion dollars is the worst possible solution for fans.
Here are some pros and cons for the Arden Hills site as they compare to building the stadium downtown for the average Vikings fan, and why some of those cons are unspoken pros for the Vikings.
Pros
- I have racked my brain, and I cannot think of a one.
Cons
- Site is a superfund site and will cost additional millions to clean up. I bet the Vikings don't kick in any money
- There is nothing around. The proposition is for the real estate magnate, Zygi Wilf to develop the region around it, reaping an exorbitant profit on that, as well as the stadium.
- Inconvenient. There aren't any major highways or railways near the site, like their are with the Metrodome site or anywhere else downtown. This is important for the Vikings, because it will mean more revenue on their parking lots since people have to drive and park somewhere. You had better believe there will be 20 dollar a spot parking, and that profit won't go back to the state.
- The expense of building this stadium, according to their plans, is exorbitant. They want us to spend 900 million dollars on a new stadium (before the cost of cleaning up the site and having to rebuild roads across the region) when there are sites that will cost taxpayers significantly less and will, for our purposes, be just as good.

So whether or not you think a Vikings stadium is important, I want you all to realize that what the Vikings are doing isn't in the interest of finding a solution. It's extortion, plain and simple.

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