The Minnesota Vikings and their new football stadium still does have a long way to go. There will be fights over every little thing, but the thing being built is now just about a certainty as 1500 ESPN reports that the Minneapolis City Council's Committee of the Whole approved the new stadium by a 7-6 margin.
The 7-6 vote now must be ratified on Friday morning but that is viewed as being a formality after Thursday's vote. The city is going to pay about $150 million of the total cost of the $975 million stadium.
It's really interesting to see that it's passing at 7-6, which seems to be a narrow margin. The bit about it being ratified is described as a formality, when this vote in and of itself was described as a formality by most after the Senate and House passed the stadium bill in their session this spring.
That being said, it's more-than likely that Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak had his votes in place, knew he had the majority that was required and didn't see it necessary to get it approved. "An inch or a mile," was clearly the name of the game here, and if it came down to him needing more votes, it's likely he would have got them. At any rate, this is the final hurdle in regards to approval is considered, so anybody who was holding their breath can now exhale.
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