Complicated negotiations

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MINNEAPOLIS -- Vikings vice-president Lester Bagley said Tuesday that negotiations for a new stadium are ongoing, and officials are now focused on putting a new facility at the current Metrodome site.

Team owner Zygi Wilf, Gov. Mark Dayton and chief authors of the stadium bill met Tuesday at the Capitol in St. Paul.

Bagley said "complicated negotiations" are going on between the Vikings, the state and the city of Minneapolis. He compared the talks to a prenuptial agreement. "We have to live with each other for the next 30 years," he said.

Wilf and Dayton spoke with reporters after the meeting, and both said the issues standing in the way of a deal are minor and should be resolved within a week. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that Wilf said the team will offer "in excess of $400 million" toward the project.

"There are still matters to be negotiated, particularly with the city of Minneapolis," Dayton said, but "the number of issues that remain are limited and can be overcome if all parties are willing."

Bagley said the team has reached an "agreement in principle" with the University of Minnesota to use TCF Stadium while a new Vikings facility is being built. Bagley said the agreement would add about 3,000 temporary end zone seats to the 50,000-seat stadium. He said other details need to be resolved before both parties sign off on the deal.