The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission last week signed off on a resolution designed to keep the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome for an extra two years.
The NFL franchise was disturbed by the lease extension plan and said in published reports that it would not sign it unless a new stadium deal was part of the proposal.
The team has long lobbied state lawmakers for financial help in building a new stadium and is expected to renew that push in the 2010 session.
The Minnesota Twins and the University of Gophers football team share the Metrodome but they have won legislative support for new stadiums. The commission wants the Metrodome reconstructed to suit the Vikings’ needs.
