Minnesota legislators will vote one more time on a compromise version of the Vikings stadium bill. Following passage of stadium bills in both the House and Senate, a conference committee made up of three members from each chamber met through Wednesday night and sewed the two versions together into yet another iteration of the bill. This version calls for a $50 million increase in the Vikings' share of the costs.
Minnesota Legislators Craft Compromise On Vikings Stadium Bill
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.
Other changes made by the conference committee include the use of user fees on luxury seats and a new lottery game that would be used only if the revenue from bingo and pull-tabs gaming proves insufficient.
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