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Tim Nelson
St. Paul, Minn.

Dayton willing to consider a 'people's stadium'

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Gov. Mark Dayton says he's willing to consider what he called a "people's stadium" for the Minnesota Vikings, under certain conditions.

The governor spoke to a labor rally and a jobs roundtable Tuesday, and mentioned the stadium at both appearances. He said he'd like to see user fees pay for stadium bonds. Dayton said he wasn't willing to put state general fund money in the deal.

"It is a jobs bill, if we structure the financing the right way to make it a people's stadium," Dayton said. "The word we heard today is unemployment in the building trades is 30, 40, 50 percent."

He suggested that surcharges on tickets, souvenirs and food and beverages could pay off the bonds used to build the stadium.

"Not a dollar of general fund," Dayton said. "Not a dollar that wouldn't be generated except for the economic activity that wouldn't be generated without that project."

Dayton said he wouldn't be surprised if a stadium bill was introduced this week, in spite of deep division over state finances. The Republican-controlled legislature is working through its major budget bills this week, including billions in state funding cuts.