New Vikings stadium passes in Minneapolis

A proposed design

Yesterday, the Vikings stadium was all but guaranteed when the Minneapolis city council agreed to the project. It was close, with a 7-6 vote for the stadium. The city will, with this plan, be contributing $11 million from sales taxes. It is estimated to be the largest capital investment in Minneapolis history and should create jobs and revenue simply because it will be a better stadium.

While I hate to get all political on a sports blog, this bill passing in the council went against a 15-year-old law that requires voters to approve any plan on a stadium where the city pays more than $10 million, which is a pretty big deal. Several opponents to passing the bill said doing this completely removed citizens from important decisions regarding their city. And since a phone survey (not the most accurate by a long shot, but a good benchmark) found that a little over half of the Minneapolis residents opposed a new stadium. Maybe it should have been put to a vote.