Feb 28, 2006 11:13 am US/Central
Vikings Blitz Airwaves For Stadium Support
St. Paul (AP) ―
The Minnesota Vikings are starting a public relations blitz as the 2006 legislative session gets underway, aimed at stirring up support for the team's stadium request.
Television and radio advertisements will air throughout the state for a week, as the team attempts to group itself with the Minnesota Twins and the University of Minnesota -- who both have stadium proposals that are given a greater chance of success at the Capitol.
The spots tout the proposed stadium complex in Blaine, which the team has dubbed Northern Lights, contending it would be an economic goldmine for the region.
"Northern Lights will be made possible by an investment of $1 billion from Vikings ownership," a radio voice proclaims. "That's $1 billion in private investment to create new economic activity and thousands of jobs."
The weeklong ad buy is the first salvo in a campaign that is likely to cost the Vikings $1 million or more, sports business consultants told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. For the team itself, the potential payoff is huge under a stadium proposal that could generate many millions in new revenue.
The campaign was created by Winner & Mandabach, of Santa Monica, Calif., which claims a 90 percent win record in 140 issue campaigns.
But it's an uphill battle. Of the three teams seeking stadiums, the Vikings are seen as needing one the least, with many state officials viewing the Metrodome as an adequate home for football. The Vikings' lease at the Metrodome doesn't expire until 2011.
Political leaders, too, have said that approving three separate stadiums in one legislative session might be a tough sell for the public. Add to that, the Vikings have performed erratically on the field and have had considerable trouble off it.
Still, the team, let by new owner Zygi Wilf, is dangling an economic windfall for the region -- a $1.5 billion public-private venture that includes parks, offices, stores and a 250-room hotel. The team has promised to invest $1 billion, with the rest coming from the state and a 0.75 percent Anoka County sales tax increase.
The proposed sales tax is running into opposition on the county level, with a group of opponents demanding documents and communications from the Anoka County Board.
"We are very concerned about the manner in which the Anoka County Board has promoted its effort to bring the Minnesota Vikings to Anoka County," wrote Ron Holch and Dann Dobson of the Taxpayers for an Anoka County Stadium Referendum in a Monday letter to the board's chairwoman.
Dobson, a non-practicing attorney in St. Paul, said the group wants to examine many issues.
The Vikings and the county contend the project would create 3,900 construction jobs and 9,000 permanent jobs. Wilf has been speaking to metro business groups promoting the complex, saying the idea that the state can't handle three stadium requests at a time is "baloney."
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The Metrodome replaced Met Stadium, which used to be in Bloomington. The Mall of America now stands on that site.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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