The latest via the Star Trib:

Dayton rejects stadium sales tax
The decision shifts burden to the state or the Vikings. Dayton also said he was warming to expanded gambling.
Gov. Mark Dayton blew a gaping hole in the financing plan for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium Tuesday, saying plans to put local taxpayers on the hook for a share of stadium costs are not politically feasible.
With just days remaining before the governor presents his own stadium plan, Dayton’s decision shifts a sizable share of the cost of the $1.1 billion stadium to the state or the Vikings while also stoking deeper interest in expanded gambling — including electronic pull-tabs — as a possible solution.
Dayton said a stadium solution is making progress “because we narrowed it down to real options that are available.” He said he and legislators have collaborated and “I feel encouraged by that. I want to see that continue. And if that does continue, we’ll get a good outcome for the people of Minnesota.”
Dayton and legislative leaders reshuffled stadium negotiations Tuesday by saying legislators will not support any effort to exempt Ramsey County or Minneapolis from their obligation to hold a public vote before increasing local sales taxes to pay their share of the stadium. All parties have acknowledged that holding a referendum probably would have killed the deal.
Vikings spokesman Lester Bagley held a rare Capitol news conference afterward to tamp down speculation that the new twist had killed Ramsey County’s site. “Arden Hills is [still] the ideal site,” Bagley said.
The Vikings have an agreement with Ramsey County officials to build a stadium in Arden Hills. Under that plan, the state would have chipped in $300 million, the team would have paid $420 million and the county would have kicked in $350 million through a half-cent countywide sales tax.
A grass-roots group of Ramsey County residents upset about the stadium deal were pushing for a referendum, although Ramsey officials had said no such referendum was needed.

The rest here.

Maybe someone can help me out here, but I don’t see how the math for a billion-dollar stadium in Minneapolis works out. According to Forbes, the Vikings are worth $796 million, or 28th among the 32 teams. But, that’s not the problem. As the chart below shows, the Vikings, when compared with the other teams at the bottom of the list, don’t make any money:

How exactly are the Vikings going to pay for their share of the costs if they’re barely making a profit as it is? The third number from the left is the key: 41. That’s the team’s debt as a percentage of its value. No wonder they clear only $3.7 million per year. With so much debt (and debt service) they don’t have the cash-flow for a new stadium.

The Vikings do have the league’s lowest prices for tickets (according to the 2010 numbers), but in this economy I don’t see building a new stadium and relying on an increase in ticket prices to do so.

Here’s an idea: stay in the stadium you have and be content with the $3 million a year you’re making. Nobody every promised investors that owning an NFL team would be a good investment. (Otherwise, it’s California, here we come.)