Capitol View: February 19, 2012 Archive

A Hail Mary Vikings stadium plan

Posted at 1:55 PM on February 19, 2012 by Tim Nelson (3 Comments)
Filed under: Vikings stadium

Ramsey County businessman Mike O'Connor says he's got a plan to single-handedly revive the Arden Hills plan for the Vikings stadium.

And he's going to roll it out Monday.

"Hopefully, I've done my homework," he said of the eponymous O'Conner Plan. "But I'd prefer to answer questions about it on Monday."

There are quite a few details, though, on his website. It involves taxpayer funding for the stadium, in return for a chunk of the ancillary development proceeds and a share of the marginal value of the Vikings franchise itself.

The development piece contemplates a 15 percent annual return, which seems pretty handsome for the current real-estate market.

And although the most recent stadium bill at the Legislature has some clawback provisions regarding team value, its probably safe to say that the Vikings would have to think long and hard about splitting their capital gains with stadium funders. The team didn't respond immediately to the plan -- possibly because they're trying to finish negotiations for the plan they already have.

The O'Connor plan also contemplates a $125 million naming rights fee. That's in the same ballpark, literally, as Target Field.

The kicker is a $50 million "options credit spread" scheme, which would also return 15 percent a year (and sounds not unlike the long ago "Sausen Plan" that would have paid for the Twins' new stadium with bond arbitrage. Which might very well have worked, but for the nation's subsequent economic near-collapse)

But in the meantime, you can count this as a late entry into the stadium race, along with the Duluth plan, the Shakopee plan and the giant iPad solution.