According to the Star Tribune, negotiators are close to an agreement on a new Vikings stadium:

Minneapolis, the state and the Minnesota Vikings have reached a tentative agreement on a new, $975 million stadium on a site at or near the Metrodome and on how to divide the costs, multiple sources said Friday.

Under the preliminary deal, the city would contribute $150 million in construction costs to the downtown Minneapolis project. The state would add $398 million, while the Vikings would pay $427 million. The city also would pay approximately $180 million in operating costs over the next 30 years, multiple sources close to the negotiations said.

For the life of me, I can’t imagine why our elected officials and civic leaders in Minneapolis could possibly want this.

Residents of Minneapolis will have the privilege of paying $330 million over the next 30 years to finance the venture. That means we’ll be paying higher taxes to subsidize afternoons of entertainment for hundreds of thousands of non-residents each year, the vast majority of whom will not spend a single dime in the city.

That’s not all, though. Minneapolis residents will reap the benefits of having a wasteland of parking lots on the edge of downtown. As we drive past the vacant lots, we’ll be filled with warm feelings thinking about the fun tailgaters have in those lots for a total of 12 hours a year. As an added bonus, we’ll also get to experience horrible traffic on Vikings game days.

Minneapolis City Council members, please don’t waste our money on this. Let’s send the Vikings elsewhere.