vikings/nfl

I was all ready to spend some money on the electronic pulltabs but Poor Richards didn't have them yet. Until they're in all the usual places it's tough for us to play them.

The state should put this shortage at the top of the investment list prior to approving any new programs this year. The stadium was shoved down our throats and no one believed the cost benefit from the start. Step up and be accountable, taxpayers shouldn't have to pick up the tab on your poor decisions.

I think I read in the strib today that there are record number of homeless in Minnesota. These people are the ones that usually play these game. Apparently they are really broke. Considering how much the economy stinks and with increasing taxes this year people are going to have less money to just throw away for billionaire Ziggy and millionaire players.

Gee, I am surprised this happened - I didn't see this coming at all! Fuzzy math built on speculation served on a platter to shove down the throats of taxpayers. No worries Mr. Wilf, the taxpayers in Minneapolis will just pay the bill.

Don't worry. If this laughable revenue stream doesn't deliver (and it won't), I'm absolutely certain that the NFL, Wilf, Rooney, Goodell, Dayton, Mondale (and his sports authority cadre), Rybak, Rosen, Lanning, half the Mpls city council...they will ALL open their checkbooks to cover what the people did NOT WANT in the first place. They WILL do that, right? I am looking forward to all the purple facepainters commenting that they will start chipping in financially because they are just that dedicated. Even, the "purple van" and Ragnar's pelts will be sold in order to contribute to this waste of a razing and then construction project.

It's not too late to do the right thing and pull the plug on this project now and cut our losses. The Metrodome is already there with a brand new roof and playing surface. Put the question to a vote and see what you get.

This surprised nobody. If you want to rewrite legislation, rewrite it so us taxpayers aren't held responsible to ensure an out of state businessman makes money. Minnesotans will be paying over $1billion over 30 years for the states share of the 30yr bonds. Minnesotans will then pay $300-400million more PSLs for Zyngi's share of the stadium. Want to watch the game in person? That will cost you $100/seat, $10/beer, $10/hotdog. Want to watch the game from home? Get ready to pay more for a Vikings sports channel! The Twins did it, the Big Ten did it, it is the Vikings turn!

Since no state had ever attempted this before and there was an absolute refusal on the part of the stadium promoters in the Legislature to provide any information as to how their gambling projections were developed, it's not out of line to say that a fraud has been perpetrated on the people of Minnesota in order to gain approval for the stadium. Whether that was deliberate or unintentional is something for others to decide but, had these results been known or anticipated in advance there certainly would have been a completely different attitude taken by everyone regarding the stadium, its financing, the split of its cost, and perhaps even its location since we would have considered different alternatives to pay for it. There's little reason to believe that this type of gambling will ever do more than make a minor contribution toward the costs. So what we have before us is a failed project, at least in the financial sense. Fortunately, we have very little in the way of sunk costs to this point so until the Legislature finds a new way to correct this problem the stadium project should come to a complete halt so no further taxpayer money is put at risk.

The Stadium deal was about the only time the Vikings won. Unfortunately, the taxpayer was on the losing team.

Pull the Plug on the Vikings Stadium. It was a scam. We'll be pulling money from roads and K-12 education to cover this boondoggle...to make a NJ billionaire millions.