To the editor:
After reading the (Feb. 3 Independent) article "Too Much Too Soon" about the stadium talk, and how distracting it is from more pressing issues like the $6.2 billion budget deficit, I am disheartened in realizing just how much people don't think a new Vikings stadium is critical for the state to get done.
The Vikings have been lobbying to the state for a long time now, and they have seen the Gophers and Twins get new stadiums (though the Gophers was more privately financed).
A new Vikings stadium will bring in so much revenue for the state and it will create thousands of jobs. Think about what a new stadium could do: host a Super Bowl, host an NCAA Final Four, concerts, conventions, you name it, a new stadium could hold it. And if the Vikings move to L.A., think about the economic effects that could have on the state of Minnesota. It would be devastating, just ask people in Houston when the Oilers left or folks in Baltimore when the Colts left for Indianapolis.
There are ways to get this done. Cities like Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and Houston have all built new stadiums in recent years.
They figured out a way. So can we.
Support the Vikings and the Vikings stadium cause, because if we don't act soon, we could be watching the L.A. Vikings.
Nathan Stacken
Marshall