The long haul to get stadiums for three Minnesota sports teams is finally over... Almost. The hoopla will all begin again next year, as the Vikings will make yet again another push for their new stadium. The state house and senate passed both the on campus Gopher football stadium and the new Twins stadium yesterday and early this morning.
First the Gopher stadium. Personally I think that this is the only slam-dunk of the three. It passed by the largest margin, and I think that it positively affects the most amounts of people. The arguments against the stadium were in my opinion weak at best. The strongest one being that it will take away from the academic success of the school. Every other Big Ten school has an outdoor stadium (I believe they are all on campus too), and those schools are doing just fine academically. Personally I think that it will be nothing but a good thing for the University of Minnesota. The revenue alone that the U will generate from this will help the school. You put a better product on the field, you attract more fans, sell more tickets, concessions and merchandise, make more money off parking spots, and get more revenue generated from more nationally televised games. Money coming into the University is never a bad thing. Not to mention bringing Big Ten football back to campus, and outdoors. What a great experience for students, alumni, and the casual fan. Saturdays will once again be something special on the campus of the University of Minnesota!
To the Twins. This one is a bit more difficult for yours truly. I am a huge Twins fan and have been all my life, but it is easier for me to see the opposition's point on this stadium bill. Before I say anything let me say that I am pleased to have baseball back outdoors, and that I do support the stadium because in the long run I think that it will create more good than any subsequent harm. However I can see the point of letting the voters in Hennepin County put it to a vote. A referendum would not have been the worst idea in the world, but it probably would have marked the end of the stadium hopes. I think that any tax increase of this variety no matter how large should get some sort of citizen input (although our input was electing the officials that are making these decisions). The argument that this bill was voted on by members that won't be affected by the tax increase and therefore should have been left up to those, which it will affect, carries weight. As a citizen of Hennepin County I don't mind the extra sales tax. I am happy to pay it to bring Baseball back outdoors and to keep my favorite major league team here in Minnesota. But I see the dilemma. The answer is that the stadium will be built; the end result will be outdoor baseball that I can hopefully take my children to go see, and revenue that will only help Hennepin County down the line. I truly believe that the ends will justify the means in this case, but I can see why so many are so upset.

On a final note the one thing I love about these bills, is how much extra language that was written in to help out other bills in the future (i.e. light rail expansion, Vikings stadium). Something that no one really wants to talk about... I suspect it is because no really knows or understands that the language is even there.