Minneapolis remains in Vikings stadium mix

(AP) The new home for the Minnesota Vikings could be awfully close to the old one.

After concentrating the last couple years on bringing a new football stadium to Blaine, the team is formally expanding its site search to Minneapolis.

The franchise and the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission announced Thursday that they would jointly study stadium possibilities, and the commission would seek to hire an urban planning consultant to look at revitalizing the eastern part of downtown by the Metrodome.

The Vikings and Anoka County officials have been pursuing state authorization for a proposed suburban stadium that would cost at least $675 million and be paid for partly through an increased local sales tax.

Vikings owner Zygi Wilf hadn't closed off Minneapolis as a potential stadium location, but city leaders haven't publicly pursued that option.

Hennepin County, meanwhile, is partnering with the Minnesota Twins to construct a new open-air ballpark on the downtown's western edge.

The third Metrodome tenant is the University of Minnesota football team, which is building an on-campus stadium with state financial assistance. It is due to open in 2009, and there has been talk of that stadium being a temporary home for the Vikings if the Metrodome is being replaced or remodeled.

"Zygi said from day one he's bullish on the Twin Cities as far as a real estate area," said Lester Bagley, Vikings vice president of public affairs and stadium development. "We understand what is possible, we have to weigh all our options."

Both sets of Vikings partners - Anoka County and the sports commission - are working on proposals that might be presented to the Legislature during the new session that starts in January.

"Our responsibility is to keep the Vikings in Minnesota," said Roy Terwilliger, the chairman of the commission, which operates the Metrodome. "It is the responsible thing to do to look at this site."