The owners want a new stadium built with taxpayer money and subsidies because they do not feel the current facility is generating enough money for them. We at the Department of Economic Development feel the owners do not have the best interests of the people of Minnesota a heart. The Minnesota Vikings and Twins have a suitable stadium for both teams, which already produces revenue for the owners. The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome , which opened in 1982, is financially self-supporting. Mike Rydell Government needs to regulate the dealings of owners when it comes to the raising of funds for new stadiums.
Owners love to brag how their teams bring millions of dollars to the city's economy.
If an owner can afford to build the stadium by using his corporations money, then any idea of taxpayers dollars being used should be nullified by the government. Economists regularly agree those sports teams and their stadiums add little to a city's economy, a fact apparently lost on our cities' leaders. This figure is made even more difficult to accept by the comparatively minute amount of owner contributions to stadium costs. Owners constantly preach how new stadiums will create new jobs, new spending, and increase city revenue. They also claim that if the team leaves, an economic black hole will be left in the city.