Media Alert: Vikings stadium bill is on the home stretch after a long haul
For fans Vikings stadium dreams are close to reality with just two steps remaining
MINNEAPOLIS (May 10, 2012) – With the wave of his wand, the Fairy Godfather, Governor Mark Dayton, may soon grant the wish of thousands of purple blooded fans, as the Vikings stadium bill heads his way for a signature.
With end of session being tomorrow the Minnesota legislature moved with the speed of Adrian Peterson dashing for the end zone to quickly pass the Vikings stadium bill over the last two weeks.
After ten years of efforts to secure a new stadium, three ownership groups, four coaches and three NFC Championship losses, the Vikings finally struck up a partnership with Minneapolis and the state to build their future home on the Metrodome site.
For the last three years, one fan in particular has been spearheading fans. Cory Merrifield, founder of SavetheVikes.org was exuberant with the final passage in the Senate saying, “Opponents told us that we’ll never get a stadium, the Vikings will never leave. But when push came to shove, the entire state, labor, business and fans, all worked together to keep the Vikings in Minnesota.”
Merrifield also adds, “It takes something special like the Vikings to bring Republicans, Democrats and Minnesota icons like Mark Dayton and Ted Mondale together to accomplish something of this magnitude.” He attributes kudos to, “ Senator Julie Rosen, Representative Morrie Lanning and Mayor Rybak for pulling together a fair and equitable plan to Minnesota, the Vikings and the fans.”
Like many fans, Merrifield says he always, “Wondered what this day would feel like, I imagine this is what it will feel like when our team, the Minnesota Vikings wins the Super Bowl.”
Two formalities remain to pass the Vikings stadium bill: the Governor’s signature, which he has already pledged, and the sign-off by the Minneapolis City Council.
As far as what fans can still do, Merrifield says, “Take nothing for granted. We ask that they make plans to be at Minneapolis City hall, particularly those who fans who live in Minneapolis.”
The Governor’s signing of the bill is TBD, and sources close to Minneapolis say May 25th is the targeted date for the City Council to meet on the stadium proposal.
ABOUT: SavetheVikes.org is a grassroots, nonpartisan group dedicated to securing the Vikings a new home in Minnesota. The group is open to many forms of stadium solutions and financing, and is an advocate for keeping the Vikings a Minnesota team. Founder Cory Merrifield created SavetheVikes.org to be for the fans, by the fans. The group is not owned or operated by any company or political organization.
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Founder and author of SavetheVikes.org. Born and raised in MN, Cory has been a lifelong Vikings fan. Season ticket holder, stop by and see him in section 218! cory.merrifield@savethevikes.org
Thanks for all your work on this Cory. You helped make this happen. This is a great day!
Congrats to all the VIKINGS fans, labor groups and particularily our fearless leader, CORY-such an unbelievable job! We are so happy we came down from Nisswa on Monday. Everyone we met was so friendly re-enforcing what we already knew that VIKING FANS ARE THE GREATEST IN THE WORLD!!!!!!! Let’s show our appreciation in emails and calls to Governor Dayton and the Represenatives and Senators that supported the bill. Below is the list in both houses and the vote roll calls! Time to celebrate!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to all, John and Joyce, Nisswa, MN
REMEMBER OUR CHANT…..WE’LL REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER!
Votes Thursday as the House, on a 71-60 vote, approved a measure to finance a new Minnesota Vikings stadium. Voting yes were 38 Democrats and 33 Republicans. Voting no were 21 Democrats and 39 Republicans.
DEMOCRATS VOTING YES
Anzelc (Balsam Twp); Atkins (Inver Grove Heights); Benson, J. (Minnetonka); Brynaert (Mankato); Champion (Minneapolis); Dill (Crane Lake); Dittrich (Champlin); Eken (Twin Valley); Fritz (Faribault); Gauthier (Duluth); Hilstrom (Brooklyn Center); Hortman (Brooklyn Park); Hosch (St. Joseph); Johnson (St. Paul); Kath (Owatonna); Knuth (New Brighton); Lesch (St. Paul); Lillie (North St. Paul); Mahoney (St. Paul); Mariani (St. Paul); Marquart (Dilworth); Melin (Hibbing); Moran (St. Paul); Morrow (St. Peter); Murphy, M. (Hermantown); Nelson (Brooklyn Park); Norton (Rochester); Pelowski (Winona); Persell (Bemidji); Poppe (Austin); Rukavina (Virginia); Simon (St. Louis Park); Slawik (Maplewood); Slocum (Richfield); Thissen (Minneapolis); Tillberry (Fridley); Ward (Brainerd); Winkler (Golden Valley)
DEMOCRATS VOTING NO
Allen (Minneapolis); Carlson (Crystal); Clark (Minneapolis); Davnie (Minneapolis); Falk (Murdock); Greene (Minneapolis); Greiling (Roseville); Hansen (South St. Paul); Hausman (St. Paul); Hilty (Finlayson); Hornstein (Minneapolis); Kahn (Minneapolis); Laine (Columbia Heights); Lenczewski (Bloomington); Liebling (Rochester); Loeffler (Minneapolis); Mullery (Minneapolis); Murphy, E. (St. Paul); Paymar (St. Paul); Scalze (Little Canada); Wagenius (Minneapolis)
DEMOCRATS NOT VOTING
Huntley (Duluth); Peterson (New Hope)
REPUBLICANS VOTING YES
Abeler (Anoka); Anderson, P. (Starbuck); Beard (Shakopee); Cornish (Vernon Center); Davids (Preston); Doepke (Orono); Fabian (Roseau); Garofalo (Farmington); Gottwalt (St. Cloud); Gunther (Fairmont); Hamilton (Mountain Lake); Hoppe (Chaska); Howes (Walker); Kelly (Red Wing); Kiel (Crookston); Kriesel (Cottage Grove); Lanning (Moorhead); LeMieur (Little Falls); McFarlane (White Bear Lake); McNamara (Hastings); Murdock (Ottertail); Murray (Albert Lea); Nornes (Fergus Falls); O’Driscoll (Sartell); Sanders (Blaine); Schomacker (Luverne); Shimanski (Silver Lake); Smith (Mound); Torkelson (Nelson Twp); Urdahl (Grove City); Vogel (Willmar); Westrom (Elbow Lake); Woodard (Belle Plaine)
REPUBLICANS VOTING NO
Anderson, B. (Buffalo Twp); Anderson, D. (Eagan); Anderson, S. (Plymouth); Banaian (St. Cloud); Barrett (Lindstrom); Benson, M. (Rochester); Bills (Rosemount); Buesgens (Savage); Crawford (Mora); Daudt (Crown); Dean (Dellwood); Dettmer (Forest Lake); Downey (Edina); Drazkowski (Mazeppa); Erickson (Princeton); Franson (Alexandria); Gruenhagen (Glencoe); Hackbarth (Cedar); Hancock (Bemidji); Holberg (Lakeville); Kieffer (Woodbury); Kiffmeyer (Big Lake); Leidiger (Mayer); Lohmer (Lake Elmo); Loon (Eden Prairie); Mack (Apple Valley); Mazorol (Bloomington); McDonald (Delano); McElfatrick (Deer River); Myhra (Burnsville); Peppin (Rogers); Petersen (Andover); Quam (Byron); Runbeck (Circle Pines); Scott (Andover); Stensrud (Eden Prairie); Swedzinski (Ghent); Wardlow (Eagan); Zellers (Maple Grove)
The Minnesota Senate, on a 38-28 vote, approved a measure to finance a new Vikings stadium.
Voting yes were 22 Democrats and 16 Republicans. Voting no were 8 Democrats and 20 Republicans.
DEMOCRATS VOTING YES
Bakk (Cook); Bonoff (Minnetonka); Cohen (St. Paul); Goodwin (Columbia Heights); Harrington (St. Paul); Higgins (Minneapolis); Kelash (Minneapolis); Koenen (Clara City); Langseth (Glyndon); Latz (St. Louis Park); Metzen (South St. Paul); Pappas (St. Paul); Reinert (Duluth); Rest (New Hope); Saxhaug (Grand Rapids); Sheran (Mankato); Sieben (Newport); Skoe (Clearbrook); Sparks (Austin); Stumpf (Plummer); Tomassoni (Chisholm); Wiger (Maplewood)
DEMOCRATS VOTING NO
Dibble (Minneapolis); Dziedzic (Minneapolis); Eaton (Brooklyn Center); Hayden (Minneapolis); Lourey (Kerrick); Marty (Roseville); McGuire (Falcon Heights); Torres Ray (Minneapolis)
REPUBLICANS VOTING YES
Carlson (Bemidji); Fischbach (Paynesville); Gimse (Willmar); Howe (Red Wing); Ingebrigtsen (Alexandria); Jungbauer (East Bethel); Koch (Buffalo); Magnus (Slayton); Michel (Edina); Miller (Winona); Nelson (Rochester); Nienow (Cambridge); Pederson (St. Cloud); Robling (Jordan); Rosen (Fairmont); Senjem (Rochester)
REPUBLICANS VOTING NO
Benson (Ham Lake); Brown (Becker); Chamberlain (Lino Lakes); Dahms (Redwood Falls); Daley (Eagan); DeKruif (Madison Lake); Gazelka (Brainerd); Gerlach (Apple Valley); Hall (Burnsville); Hann (Eden Prairie); Hoffman (Vergas); Kruse (Brooklyn Park); Lillie (Lake Elmo); Limmer (Maple Grove); Newman (Hutchinson); Ortman (Chanhassen); Parry (Waseca); Thompson (Lakeville); Vandeveer (Forest Lake); Wolf (Spring Lake Park)
REPUBLICANS NOT VOTING
Olson (Minnetrista)
Congratulations to all of us Viking fans!!
Nice picture in the Strib of our bunch in the senate gallery Cory. But why didn’t you wear any purple? My girlfriend says it looks like you’re posing as Capitan Morgan. heh
Historic day to say the least. I thought it was touching that they thanked us fans for being there and supporting them through all of this. Maybe now I can finally get the Viking tattoo I’ve been putting off for so many years waiting for a decision. I think I’ll get it the day the gold shovel goes into the ground. Thanks again Cory and all the fans who hung out at the capital over this past week. Tiring but fun.
Hi Cory,
THANK YOU for all of your hard work on helping to preserve the tradition of Minnesota Vikings Football. I might not be from Minnesota or the United States, though it would be extremely cool to see a game at the new stadium in person. 2016 cannot come fast enough!
SKOL VIKINGS
First of all I would like to thank Cory for this website and keeping it current. Second, I would like to thank all the Vikings fans that showed up at our Capital to let their voices be heard. I was there on Monday and was so happy to see all my brother and sister Viking fans. Excellent turn out. Third, I would like to thank all the representatives that voted yes on the Viking stadium bill. Big thanks to Mark Dayton too. And don’t forget the saying “We’ll remember in November”. All my representatives voted against the new Vikings stadium bill. I well remember this November. SKOL Vikings!