The Minnesota stadium bill cleared the Senate by a 38-28 vote. Listening to the State Senators was even more mentally draining than the House debates of the night before. The Senate even tossed in an amendment that prohibits any Minnesota Vikings TV blackouts of games played at a new stadium. The FCC and the NFL might have something to say about that. One clown tried to add essentially the same amendment several different ways. Fortunately for all he failed in every way. Another clown ended up voting for the stadium bill simply so he called for a re vote afterwards. It's amazing that anything ever gets done. Through this numbing process I'm constantly reminded of the delightful instructions of Schoolhouse Rock. The path of a bill to a law seemed much more thrilling in those excellent little cartoons.
Now, the bills passed by the Senate and the House bounce into a Conference Committee where they are reconciled into one bill. I believe that the Vikings are also part of these meetings. They likely want to be as both bills now include increased financial contributions from them. Despite negotiating a set amount months ago the Vikings probably expected to pay a little more but would like to have a say in the amount. The reconciled bill will then go back to the House and the Senate to be voted on again. After it's hopefully passed there, the governor finally gets to make it a law. Governor Mark Dayton has been pro-Stadium from the beginning. His signing should be automatic. Following that, the Minnesota Vikings will have a new home.
If I understand this process correctly, the biggest hurdles are the two that the bill just cleared. But who knows? Of the couple hundred people that I've seen debate over the last two days, there's only about a dozen that I would trust to make decisions.
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