House, Senate Approve Reconciled Vikings Stadium Bill

The Minnesota Vikings have their stadium.

After a few weeks of wrangling, both the Minnesota House and Senate approved a reconciled bill to build the team a brand new stadium on the site where Metrodome now stands.

Earlier this week, and versions of Vikings stadium bills. Yesterday, it was the job of a conference committee made of members of both chambers to negotiate a workable melding of the bills that would appease the team and the legislature.

Around midnight, the committee announced it had reconciled such a bill, and the Vikings were on board.

Then, at 3:30 a.m., after a couple hours of debate, the House of Representatives passed the reconciled bill 71-60. Rep. Mary Liz Holberg (R-District 36A), of , voted against the bill, but Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-District 36B), of Farmington, voted in favor.

This afternoon, the Senate passed the measure, 36-30, with Sen. Dave Thompson (R-District 36), of Lakeville, voting against the measure.

In fact, Garofalo was the only South Metro Republican to support the bill, with representatives from Burnsville, Apple Valley, Rosemount, Eagan and Savage all voting against the measure.

The Vikings new share of the $1 billion stadium is set to be $477 million, up $50 million from what the team said its cap was earlier this spring. Minneapolis will still pay $150 million, with the state's share coming in at $348 million.

According to the Star Tribune, under the bill, the state will pay its share with revenue from electronic bingo and pull tabs, but in the event those revenues fall short, a series of so-called blink-on taxes would activate, including a 10 percent admissions tax on stadium luxury seats and a sports-themed lottery game predicted to produce at least $2.1 million per year.

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