It's 11:00 PM here as the Minnesota Legislature works to reconcile the House stadium bill passed on Monday with the Senate stadium bill passed yesterday. It appears that a lot of the action has been done piecemeal throughout the day to avoid a quorum of the conference committee and allow legislators to work things out privately. I can't say I'm a big fan of that.
It appears that the final bill will be voted on quickly after it is crafted, so the public will probably have no time to weigh in on it until after the fact. I can't say I'm a big fan of that either.
Here are some of the changes that the St. Paul Pioneer Press thinks will be in the final bill:
-- The Vikings share will rise to $477 million, the state's will drop to $348 million.
-- Team retains naming rights to new stadium.
-- St. Paul will get $2.7 million, city has suggested it could be used to pay for new St. Paul Saints stadium in Lowertown.
-- Minneapolis will be allowed to use some of its tax money used as part of the deal to upgrade the Target Center.
-- Construction cost overruns to be picked up by the builder.
I won't be waiting up tonight.
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