The Minnesota Vikings and their stadium woes look to have had some relief on Tuesday, as Minnesota's new Senate Majority Leader appears to be someone who could further the planning and development of a new football stadium. The Vikings' lease on the Metrodome is nearing its end, and the team has been pushing hard for a new stadium, but not only have they ran into many issues on getting it funded that any stadium plan has to overcome, they've encountered some opposition from the counties and the state.
The former Majority Leader, Amy Koch was viewed by many (this writer included) as someone who was moderately against the stadium push. If not directly, she was indirectly opposed to many things that could have potentially helped secure financing for the $1.1 billion stadium.
Now it's Rochester's Dave Senjem, a likable candidate who, among other things, is a support of gambling expansion, one of the potential avenues for taxing to secure funding for development of a stadium. While there's no official word from Senjem on his position in regards to the stadium (frankly, he's got a lot of things to sort through with the scandal that forced Koch to resign), but again, it's viewed as a positive now that he's the man in charge.
Well, in charge of a lot of things - and reportedly with a better working relationship with others who may be in charge that want to get the stadium figured out sooner rather than later, such as Governor Mark Dayton.