Plans for New Taj Mahal for Minnesota Vikings Unveiled

The Minnesota Vikings became the latest pro team to announce plans for a spectacular magnificent building with all the bells and whistles. The stadium is to be built on the eastside of Downtown Minneapolis as part of a larger multi-use development with costs expected to be well in excess of $1 billion dollars. As one might expect, taxpayers in the Twin Cities and the Land of 10,000 Lakes will pickup the vast majority of the expense, probably around 80 % or more of it by the time everything is accounted for by the date of the building's projected opening in 2012.

While the design of the facility is quite beautiful and architecturally impressive, it probably is overkill. But it would mean the awarding of future Super Bowls, Final Fours, and other noteworthy conventions and events to the Twin Cities which would have a significant positive economic impact as there is no competition with a building and development of this size in that region and the cities of Detroit and St. Louis are the nearest areas with comparable facilities.

http://www.startribune.com/510/story/1131935.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2843492