Socialism Gets Setback in NFL Stadium for Minnesota;

Taxpayers Balk at Paying Hundreds of Millions to Wealthy Team Owners

Anyone remember the shutdown of the state government of Minnesota last summer.  Because the Governor, a Democrat and the legislature, dominated by Conservative Republicans could not agree on a spending and tax plan, the state shut down until the Governor caved. (We did say he was a Democrat).  Now that Minnesota has affirmed its right to cut spending for education, help for disabled people and the like, it can face a more important issue.



With enough taxpayer money this can be a
football stadium to make a wealthy team owner
even wealthier. 



The question is whether or not to build a new football stadium for the Minnesota Vikings.  Well actually the question is whether taxpayers should build a new stadium for the Vikings.  See, recent history has shown

For decades, N.F.L. teams, including those in Arizona, Ohio and Texas, have persuaded taxpayers to help them cover most of the costs of their new stadiums.

And here is what the Vikings want.

In a state whose financial hardships were so severe that the Legislature shut down state services for several weeks over the summer, a franchise in the $9 billion N.F.L. is asking the public to pay about 60 percent of the cost of a $1.1 billion stadium that would be built here, about 10 miles north of the Twin Cities.

Of course, the incredibly lucrative NFL team is not asking the taxpayer to do everything.

Out of the Vikings’ effort over several years to get a new stadium has come the latest in a series of proposals to build the team an indoor facility on the state’s largest Superfundsite, an abandoned Army munitions plant opened during World War II. The team is offering to pay more than $400 million toward the cost of the stadium, as well as any overruns. It hopes also to get the potentially lucrative rights to develop an adjoining 170 acres, and revenue from any naming rights and personal seat licenses.

And just so everyone knows what is going on here, the team apparently envisions requiring “seat licenses”.  This means that after the taxpayers have paid a majority of the costs of the stadium, have given away naming rights and development rights, the team wants the taxpayers to pay for the right to pay for a ticket.  That is what “seat licenses” are, the right to buy a ticket.

Well it turns out, amazingly enough that having gone through a budget/tax battle where everyone said the state could not afford critical service and would not raise taxes, some people actually see a problem in a taxpayer funded facility, whose usage is limited to about 10 to 15 days a years, that would be for the benefit of wealthy private owners of the team.

 some Republicans want a referendum on the $350 million contribution from Ramsey County, where the stadium would be situated. Given the public’s distaste for higher taxes — the county hopes to pay for its share by raising the local sales tax by half a cent — a referendum would probably fail.

Finally there is this comment from a person with a prominent name

Despite the uphill fight to win over legislators, Ted Mondale, the governor’s chief negotiator in the stadium debate, said that labor unions, construction companies and corporate executives already back the stadium plan. He emphasized that the stadium would not be corporate welfare

Look Mr. Mondale, when even Republicans are opposed to giving taxpayer money to a business, you have a really, really, really bad case of corporate welfare.  Look it up.  But expect the state to ultimately approve a deal, after all they can easily take $600 million out of education because children can’t vote.