While Vikings officials hope their stadium issue will be addressed in the legislative session, they are keeping tabs on what is happening in California.
On Tuesday, voters in the small town of Industry approved a bond measure that would provide $150 million for infrastructure improvements at a 600-acre site where a stadium has been proposed. City officials must certify the plan. The goal is to lure an NFL team there.
"The Vikings are watching these developments with interest," said Lester Bagley, the team's vice president of public affairs and stadium development. "But we are currently focused on achieving a workable stadium plan to keep the Vikings here in Minnesota."
Billionaire real estate developer Ed Roski Jr. wants to build a privately financed $800 million stadium if a team agrees to move to Industry, 15 miles east of Los Angeles. The Vikings, whose Metrodome lease expires after the 2011 season, have been one of the teams mentioned as potential candidates for relocation. The Industry stadium would open in 2012.
The Vikings, who will push a plan to have a new venue on the site of the Metrodome, are last in the league in revenue. They were approached by Roski last summer, but owner Zygi Wilf turned down Roski's overtures to discuss moving the team. Wilf said last July that he wasn't "considering moving [the team]" and that "I'm not considering selling it."
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