Minnesota Vikings unveil new stadium design for 2016

Per the agreement, the Vikings will reimburse the university for any TCF Bank Stadium improvements and game-day operational procedures, while paying $250,000 in rent per game and sharing $50,000 in concessions, sponsorship and advertising revenue. That’s $300,000 per game and a maximum of $3 million per season.

Via the team’s official release:

Once completed, however, the team could rake in as much as $15 million per year in corporate naming rights, according to Charley Waiters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The new stadium is scheduled to open by 2016, with owner Zygi Wilf holding a 30-year lease. As Waiters points out, that would add up to $400 million in naming rights over the life of the lease.

For more Vikings coverage and discussion, check out Daily Norseman. For more news on the stadium project, visit SB Nation Minnesota.

Friday’s vote follows a lengthy, contentious debate in the state legislature over the plan and how much each entity involved would pay. It looked DOA when a House committee failed to pass it in April, but a last-minute lobbying trip from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell breathed new life into the effort. The legislature passed a revised plan earlier this month.

The city council vote was the only layer of approval from the city of Minneapolis. The bill signed by the governor included a provision to get around a local law requiring public vote to use revenues for sports facilities. Minneapolis will chip in $150 million toward the construction costs via an extension of taxes that would otherwise go to the convention center.

Terms of the deal call for the Vikings to pay the University for any changes required during the NFL team’s stay. The team will also pay a $250,000 fee for each game played at TCF Bank Stadium and a split in concessions, advertising and sponsorship during that time, which could total around $3 million.

The team will play its games in the Metrodome through 2014. Construction is expected to begin next year.

The final bill calls for public contributions totaling $498 million toward the total cost of $975 million. The city of Minneapolis will pay $150 million of that total with another $348 million coming from state revenues collected on gaming. The Vikings, and the NFL G4 stadium loan program, will contribute a total of $477 million.

Initially, the compromised plan supported by Gov. Dayton and the Vikings, along with leaders from both parties, called for a team contribution of $427 million. The House amended the original bill in a Monday night vote to shift another $105 million in costs the Vikings, something the team called “unworkable.” A Senate version of the bill passed after the House vote called for an additional $25 million from the Vikings.

Earlier in the week, the House passed a version of the bill shifting $105 million of the state’s contribution to the Vikings. The team called that bill “unworkable.” Lester Bagley, the team’s vice president, also expressed concern over the Senate version of the bill, which shifted $25 million in costs. In the end, adding more costs to the Vikings’ share of the bill appeared to be the only way to secure passage.

The bill still has several more hurdles to clear, though passage is likely. The Senate started debate over the final bill at 10 a.m. Eastern. No additional amendments can be attached to the bill produced by the conference committee. A Senate vote is expected within a few hours from the start of its debate.

The House bill called for an increase of $105 million in the Vikings’ share of the downtown Minneapolis stadium. Senators passed a version that upped it by just $25 million. The new bill sets the contribution from the Vikings at $477 million. According to the Star Tribune, the team has yet to respond to the new version of the bill but expressed reservations about the increase over the initial compromise that put their share of the cost at $427 million.

The bill was scheduled to go back to the House for a vote on Wednesday night. The Senate will take it up on Thursday before adjourning the 2012 legislative session.

One amendment added to the final bill would reduce the state’s contribution by $25 million, shifting that to the Vikings. That differs sharply from the bill passed by the House on Monday, which upped the Vikings’ share by $105 million. A team spokesperson called the House bill “unworkable.”

A Vikings spokesperson, VP Lester Bagley, reiterated the team’s opposition to changing the shape of which entity pays what amount.

That change represents the first stage of a compromise with a version of the bill passed by the state House on Monday night that would increase the Vikings’ cost by $105 million. Representatives from the Vikings called the House version of the plan “unworkable.”

The breakdown in contributions for a new stadium to be built on the current Metrodome site could go through further compromise in a conference committee comprised of House and Senate members. First, the Senate will have to approve a bill. On Tuesday afternoon, the Senate was still debating and voting on some 50 amendments to the stadium bill. A final vote may not happen until later on Tuesday evening.

An amendment approved by the House lowered the state contribution from $398 million to $293 million and upped the Vikings’ share of the stadium by $105 million.

Lester Bagley, Vikings’ vice president of public affairs and stadium development, told the press that the plan passed by the House does not pass muster with the team.

The Minnesota Senate will take up the bill Tuesday morning, with the intention of voting on it by the end of the day. After that, the bill would make the usual stops on its way to becoming law, conference committee and eventually the Governor’s desk. However, the version passed by the House Monday night contains a provision that could pose a problem outside the capitol building, with the Vikings and the NFL.

House members pitched a variety of amendments to attach to the bill, amendments not unexpected given the usual partisan fault lines touched by the stadium bill. An amendment upping the Vikings’ share by $105 million will require further wrangling among lawmakers.

Right now, Gov. Dayton believes the bill to be a few votes shy of passage, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. That should make for one of the most watched floor debates in this year’s legislative session, as supporters and opponents twist and turn to sway a handful of voters on the fence.

Behind the scenes, an unusual alliance of business and labor leaders have taken on a more direct lobbying effort. The Governor has also met with legislative leaders to press their support.

Representative will be voting on the original stadium bill negotiated by Gov. Mark Dayton. That bill calls for state contributions of approximately $400 million from the introduction of new gaming revenue sources. Another $150 million will come from Minneapolis sales tax revenue.

Earlier in the week, Republican legislators floated a lower-cost plan for the stadium that left off the roof and used state bonds to pay for the state’s share of the cost. Controversy ensued, mostly along party lines. The Vikings and the Governor refused to consider a plan without a roof, since that would limit the facility’s usage. Republicans continued to press for a plan to borrow money via bonds, with a roof added back in, as late as Wednesday afternoon.

The new proposal reduced the cost by taking off the roof, leaving the stadium “roof-ready” for a future addition. To pay for the reduced contribution, the new proposal folds it into a larger bonding bill being debated in the legislature. Under the original proposal, the state contribution came from new gaming revenues.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton was critical of the idea when speaking to the press on Tuesday afternoon. Dayton criticized the plan, calling it a “gimmick.”

At issue are demands from lawmakers to fund the state’s portion of the project through a tax on fans and the team. The current plan calls for expanded gambling revenues to be used for the state’s contribution of more than $400 million.

Prior to meeting with SB Nation bloggers on Thursday, Goodell was on the phone with Gov. Mark Dayton. Goodell traveled to Minnesota for a meeting with lawmakers on April 20, urging them to pass the bill before the legislative session ends in May.

The bill now moves onto the Jobs and Economic Growth Committee, one of several hurdles it will have to clear before the end of the legislative session scheduled for May 21.

A small step, it gives stadium supporters a win. The plan looked shelved, at least for the 2012 legislative session, after a House committee voted down a version of it Monday. That sent the Vikings and the NFL scurrying. Goodell convened Friday’s meeting in an effort to salvage the bill’s chances this year, while the Vikings still have a Metrodome home.

“If it isn’t passed this session, the league itself -- beyond the Vikings -- the league itself has serious concerns about the viability of the franchise here and the future of it here,” Dayton said following a phone call with Goodell.

The Minnesota House voted down Dayton’s compromise stadium plan on Monday night by a 9-6 vote. That plan called for state gaming taxes to kick in nearly $400 million and another $150 million coming from Minneapolis sales tax revenue, along with $427 million from the Vikings and the NFL. The bill bypassed a requirement for public approval for public expenditures on sports facilities in excess of $10 million.

According to the Pioneer Press, Goodell said that their would be “serious consequences” if the current legislative session ended if the bill directing state and local tax dollars to pay for roughly half of the project were not passed.

Grubman one-upped that statement by bringing up the specter of owner Zygi Wilf listening to interested buyers.