ST. PAUL, Minn.—The Minnesota House has approved a plan to build a $975 million stadium for the Vikings, but with a big boost in what the team would pay.
The amended plan that passed 73-58 Monday night would raise the Vikings' share to $532 million, or about 55 percent of construction costs. That knocks about $105 million off the state's contribution.
The team has said it wouldn't pay more than $427 million.
The Senate will consider its own version of the bill. Differences would be worked out in a conference committee.
Discussion on the House floor was overshadowed at times by the chants of Vikings boosters rallying in the rotunda outside. Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and Vikings players, including quarterback Christian Ponder, fired up purple-clad fans, who chanted, "Build it!"
Ponder drew cheers when he said, "I want to be here in Minnesota for the rest of my life."
The Vikings have pushed for a new stadium for more than a decade, but their efforts went nowhere until their lease at the Metrodome expired. Rep. Morrie Lanning, the bill's sponsor, said the team likely would leave the state if the legislation fails.
"Whatever you think of this bill, this is our one chance," said Rep. John Kriesel, R-Cottage Grove. "This bill works, it's been fine-tuned and it will build a stadium."
The Vikings will play the upcoming season at the Metrodome, but are free to leave after that. The team hasn't threatened to move, but fans fear they could relocate to Los Angeles or another city seeking its own football team.
"If they don't do it now, they're out in L.A. by next year, or someplace else," said J.P. Charney, 24, of Minnetonka, who came to the Capitol with his brother to support a new stadium.
Dayton made the stadium issue his top priority last fall, urging lawmakers to act to avoid losing a valuable asset. Dayton has also touted the thousands of jobs that stadium construction would bring.
The governor has acted as lead cheerleader for the project, joining in chants of "Build it!" in a raucous rotunda rally with construction workers before the House debate Monday.
"Minnesota's a can-do state," he told the crowd. "We've been successful because we say, 'Yes we're going to move ahead. Yes, we're going to create more jobs. Yes, we're going to do the things we want to do to remain vital and strong.'"
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak said stadium supporters picked up momentum after fans and construction workers mobilized to support the project over the weekend. Dayton appeared at rallies at the Mall of America on Saturday and a Minneapolis sports bar on Sunday.
"I feel that the numbers are close and the numbers are moving in our direction," said Rybak, who has been lobbying legislators for the project.
One Democrat, Rep. Ryan Winkler, announced Sunday he was changing his "no" vote to "yes" because he saw the stadium as the only job-producing project likely to come out of the Legislature this session.
