According to a report from TwinCities.com the Minnesota Vikings battle to have a new stadium built is becoming a much longer shot after state governor Mark Dayton the new stadium bill was shot down in the state's house of representatives, forcing Governor Mark Dayton to ask the Vikings to wait another year before re-proposing a similar idea.
Well apparently the Vikings don't feel like waiting, noting that ' there is no next year' for them, the strongest language used to date about the Vikes looking to relocate, possibly to Southern California. The Vikes have put up with this type of procrastination for far too long according to team vice president of public affairs and stadium development Lester Bagley:
"The last governor said in 2006 we'll come back and work on yours next year. That was six years ago. No action this year is a decision."
The $975 million proposal was shot down on a 9-6 vote Monday night, which Bagley notes that some legislators are afraid to favor. Governor Dayton is well aware of the severity of the Vikings claims, as he continues to push for a bi-partisan effort to keep the Purple and Gold in Minnesota.
"We've got to get a stadium next year or the Vikings will leave," Dayton said. "I mean, it's just as clear as that. We can't have it both ways. We can't not do a new stadium and have the Vikings remain here for very long."
With politics wedging itself between the team and it's state, the delay could not only cost Minnesota it's NFL franchise, it could cost the people of Minnesota as well:
"I feel very badly for the thousands of unemployed Minnesotans who should be and would be working on this project over the next couple of years..."you get just this kind of behavior, everybody angling for their own self-interest and trading this vote off for that vote."
Los Angeles is the likeliest of landing spots for the Vikings if they plan of relocating, with both the Farmer's Field project in downtown Los Angeles and another proposed NFL stadium site in Carson, CA for them to possibly choose from. Minnesota has to figure out the best way to appease the team, the taxpayers and the politicians for this deal to work, if not, they could be L.A. bound sooner than later.
For more on the Vikings, head over to the Daily Norseman.