The Minnesota Vikings stadium saga is nearing the point where it'll be too far gone to become a tangible reality in 2012. Small breakthroughs have occurred here and there, but it seems like they're always squashed out by things that feel ... insignificant. What's the latest thing being fought over that's directly getting in the way of something getting done, you ask?
Well, the Star Tribune is reporting that the money that the public would get if the team was ever sold is a point of issue. That's right - the percentage of money that would go to the public if Zygi Wilf decided to sell the team after the stadium is built. The public is concerned that the percentage isn't right, in that the public would get up to 18 percent of Wilf's profit from a sale in exchange for the money they're pouring into the stadium.
Apparently, this is a big deal because of the deal with the Twins and their new stadium - which said 18 percent of the team's overall sale price would go to the public. There's some numbers to digest - like the difference between $31 million and $143 million, but it's still somewhat ludicrous to think the Vikings would be up for sale after a deal gets done for a new stadium.
Wilf and the Vikings are going to contribute somewhere around $400 million for the new stadium - there were some more solid figures on that, but given that nobody knows what's going to happen anyway, let's just leave it at around that number. The selling value of the team is very complicated and it wouldn't necessarily go up by a huge number just because there's a new stadium. It doesn't make sense for Wilf's wallet to just up and sell the team.
They ARE important issues - don't write them off entirely. Several years down the road this could be important, but right now, it's just another thing that should have been solved months ago complicating things further as this legislative session nears it's end.
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