As for people saying that this is how other NFL owners do it, I say that we are in a different time now, so the mindset & approach needs to change on publicly funding sports stadiums.

1. I would respectfully disagree. This isn’t a handout, this is leveraging a deal to keep his business in this area. He could go somewhere else where he can get a better deal. Sometimes when you are the vendor, you have the leverage.

2. We aren’t in a different time, the stadium deals have been happening in the last couple of years. Just look at Dallas, they gave even more for the stadium.

Now as far as the insults of the Midwest. I have lived in the Mid Hudson Valley of New York and been to NYC many times. I now live 80 miles south of MPLS. Both states have much to offer. I prefer where I am at, but NYC is a neat place, Long Island is cool and Up State is gorgeous. But there is something about the Midwest that I love and there is a lot of beauty here too, but if you prefer to stay ignorant that is fine with me, I prefer it not too crowded….

Your uneducated farmer remark doesn’t even deserve a response. You don’t know what farming is…

As for people saying that this is how other NFL owners do it, I say that we are in a different time now, so the mindset & approach needs to change on publicly funding sports stadiums.

Wilf has been one of the best Vikings owners in terms of listening to the fans and bringing in big names, such as Jared Allen. The Star Tribune should recuse itself from covering Vikings stadium news as a conflict of interest.

Raise taxes.

Or do tea party knuckleheads have you so wrapped around their fingers, or kissing their privileged behinds.

When a household runs short, someone goes out and finds a part time job.

When states do not have enough money for schools, hospitals, roads, infrastructure, social services, they raise taxes.

And then contribute your part to build that stadium.

The proper analytical framework is to see how much new money will be brought into the region from outside the region due to the stadium being constructed AND how much money that is currently leaving the region will now be kept in the region due to the stadium being constructed.

Most Vikings fans who spend money on Vikings football live in Minnesota, so if there is no stadium and no team, the vast majority of them will shift their current entertainment expenditure from the Vikings to some other Minnesota entertainment provider. A dollar shifted is not an economic benefit. The few Viking fans who fly/drive-in for every home game from out of the region are a net loss, as will be however many Vikings fans that fly out to LA to watch the LA Vikings play in 2014.

But entertainment facilities are luxury goods that merely concentrate entertainment/discretionary dollars. And that is not a net economic gain for a region to subsidize.

The other news happening today is that MN is expecting up to a $1 billion budget deficit over the next two years. To resolve the last deficit, they borrowed from school funding. It’s going to get really tough to fund a stadium.

If the Jags or someone else moves to LA first, the Vikes are going to play in MN in the Metrodome for a while longer. But I’ll bet Zygi tries to get to LA first.

The vikings haven’t had nearly as big of a problem with blackouts as most NFL teams.

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Want to know why they’re farmers? I’ll give you a hint. No _ducation.

Let’s see if you can figure that out.

Wilf’s are living the dream. I’d kill to have my apt in MPLS and have a NYC joint. Bay Ridge Brooklyn = jam

Wow, what a complete non-story. Sounds like some people in Minnesota have big inferiority complexes.
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No, it’s only the Vikings fans that have that disease.

The essential problem is that the state of Minnesota has a 5 billion dollar deficit right now. Yes, that’s right, 5 billion dollars. To balance the budget last year (during the government shut down) they borrowed money from the schools…. yes, they delayed payments to schools. The Republican legislature has refused to allow the governor to raise taxes to fix this mess. Basically, the state is in a huge financial mess.

Zygi’s biggest problem is that he’s trying to squeeze blood from a stone – pretty hard to do. Of course he could finance the whole thing for himself, but then he couldn’t buy up ALL the land around it and develop that into Zygiville with shopping and the like (to make even more money).

If you cross out greedy and replace it with needy, then you are saying they are needy, thus deserving of the tax break. Is that an attempt at irony?

BTW, as long as you’re an expert on this topic, how much money will the Vikings bring into the state of Minnesota with stadium construction jobs (and those employees taxes), stadium jobs, income taxes on the Wilfs, Viking players, other Vikings and stdium employees income? How much does the state stand to make from local businesses saless taxes, lodging taxes, income taxes from those businesses employees? What are those figures? I’ll be waiting to read your investigative story on the financial benefit to the state, county and city the new stadium is located in. I doubt we’ll see it anytime soon, if ever. Nice work…