With the contracts of many key players expiring, and Brett Favre filing retirement papers, the Vikings have one of their most important contracts expiring, their home field at Mall of America Field. Mall of America Field recently deflated as fast as the Vikings Playoffs hopes, and many in Minnesota fear they might be moving to Los Angeles as stadium talks seem to be at a standstill.
I have seen the North Stars leave the state and move to Dallas only to win the Stanley Cup shortly thereafter. All fans could do in the final season was protest and chirp up with our incessant, “Norm sucks” chat, belittling the former owner of the North Stars and showing our disdain. Furthermore the Minneapolis Lakers left town and went on to win many more NBA Championships.
We are amidst a looming state budget deficit over $1 billion and face many cuts and Minnesotans don’t want to talk about public subsidies toward a new stadium. However like the North Stars and Minneapolis Lakers, Minnesota professional sports always return. The first step in a team returning is building a new stadium. The Vikings owners did announce earlier this week they would be willing to pay one-third of the cost of an open-air stadium, but if the state wants a retractable roof for a multipurpose stadium, the cost would be on the state.
Building a new stadium could be an ideal answer in a slow economy to put thousands of unemployed construction workers to work for a few years. Other benefits would be local Shakopee businesses could see a surge in patronage and Shakopee real estate could potentially see values increase. If the Vikings were to build in Shakopee, the Dean’s Lake Business Park could also see many more businesses relocate to the area. With more business, Shakopee real estate taxes would be generated which would alleviate stress on the city budget. Shakopee real estate foreclosures and short sales also plague the market and many of those bargains on homes in Shakopee could be snapped up by relocating workers.
Like it or not, a new stadium will be built, and one proposal that has been proposed in the past and one I would strongly support would be a Racino at Canterbury Park in Shakopee.
Let me know if you are for or against this topic, I would love to hear your thoughts . Please share this article with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.
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