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Oh thank you Minnesota House of Representatives, especially Morrie Lanning. That guy is one impressive politician.

Now on to the Senate...

Word is: bill PASSES the House 73-58. It lives another day! On to the Senate!

CalVike wrote:Rep Kriesel: "We were elected to be leaders. We were elected to make decisions." #mnleg

And they did. At the 11th hour, they did, and I salute the ones who stood for what they believe in for their open and honest efforts.

CalVike wrote:Word is: bill PASSES the House 73-58. It lives another day! On to the Senate!

Yes, it passed. But the House substantially altered the funding to the tune of another $100 M from Zygi and the Vikings aren't happy about it.

But the important thing is that it didn't die tonight. One bullet dodged, one more to go in the Senate.

Now, to do this all over again for another 8+ hours tomorrow. They'll carve up the bill with amendments just like the House, and we'll see if it squeezes by there.

If so, then it goes to conference committee and the real horse-trading gets done. Then the re-vote on the final product, up or down. No amendments.

I'm frankly surprised it passed with the votes it received. A big sigh of relief.

Man, if this thing didn't pass, the stress of finals week and lack of sleep may have lead me to do something I would have later regret...

I hope the Senate passes this. I know we got some ways to go yet, but this is a step in the right direction at least.

DavidKarki wrote:
Yes, it passed. But the House substantially altered the funding to the tune of another $100 M from Zygi and the Vikings aren't happy about it.

But the important thing is that it didn't die tonight. One bullet dodged, one more to go in the Senate.

Now, to do this all over again for another 8+ hours tomorrow. They'll carve up the bill with amendments just like the House, and we'll see if it squeezes by there.

If so, then it goes to conference committee and the real horse-trading gets done. Then the re-vote on the final product, up or down. No amendments.

so it's, "We pass the bill but we want another $100 mill from the ownership"...? how's that solving anything?

DavidKarki wrote:
Yes, it passed. But the House substantially altered the funding to the tune of another $100 M from Zygi and the Vikings aren't happy about it.

But the important thing is that it didn't die tonight. One bullet dodged, one more to go in the Senate.

Now, to do this all over again for another 8+ hours tomorrow. They'll carve up the bill with amendments just like the House, and we'll see if it squeezes by there.

If so, then it goes to conference committee and the real horse-trading gets done. Then the re-vote on the final product, up or down. No amendments.

My guess is those extra funds are intended to position the state for the conf committee negotiations. For some reason I don't think it's going to make it as-is to the final bill, but we'll see.

I guess that does raise the question - if the bill clears with that in it and the Vikes don't like it, what then? The assumption is that the stadium is what they're after, but since they're not under any lease, would Zygi be within his rights to simply sell the team, thus making all negotiations up to this point null-and-void? If so, would the situation then revert to essentially free agency for the team where other markets could make serious bids for the team?

I thought I heard earlier the 100 million was from the naming rights? Maybe over the life of the stadium? Does anyone know exactly where that comes from?

Not that Zygi should be complaining. The minute the stadium deal is done, the team will double in value, increasing even more than he ends up paying between him and the nfl total! (And they paid Favre a quarter of what they just raised it in two seasons )

VikingLord wrote:My guess is those extra funds are intended to position the state for the conf committee negotiations. For some reason I don't think it's going to make it as-is to the final bill, but we'll see.

I guess that does raise the question - if the bill clears with that in it and the Vikes don't like it, what then? The assumption is that the stadium is what they're after, but since they're not under any lease, would Zygi be within his rights to simply sell the team, thus making all negotiations up to this point null-and-void? If so, would the situation then revert to essentially free agency for the team where other markets could make serious bids for the team?

Zygi has to a large extent painted himself into a corner with his fairly obvious desperation; the only real card he has to play is getting up and walking away from the table and selling the team to L.A. interests. The Legislature knows he doesn't want to do this, the NFL doesn't want to do this, and so long as they pass something (no matter how bad it is) really can't do this. So even that card has been neutered to a large degree.

As such, they are going to push very hard and try to shove every last penny onto Zygi and the NFL that they can. Zygi had better have Goodell and Grubman with him at those conference committee hearings (if it survives the Senate) and be ready to push back just as hard. If it comes to the point where Zygi has to walk away, he must ensure the NFL has his back 100%, because the Legislature will dishonestly dump on him with a ferocity rarely seen in order to cover their own butts this November.

vp Bagley "great day" says the amendment to have them pay $105 million more "not workable"

RT by Chip Scoggins on Twitter

dead_poet wrote: RT by Chip Scoggins on Twitter

Does that mean they won't do it? I can see the naming rights thing being part of that. Does that make sense? I mean, I know that it screws the Vikings but...

I don't get why anyone is even remotely excited about all of this. So a bill passed with stipulations that The Vikings havent agreed to and have said are unworkable. This is a big joke. Looks like some leaders want the Vikings gone, but just dont want to be the ones to send them off, so they can save there own #### and political career. Like i said what a joke.

NDVikeFan wrote:I don't get why anyone is even remotely excited about all of this. So a bill passed with stipulations that The Vikings havent agreed to and have said are unworkable.

Well, there's that.

Then there's the battle in the Senate, where the bill seems less likely to pass.

NDVikeFan wrote:I don't get why anyone is even remotely excited about all of this. So a bill passed with stipulations that The Vikings havent agreed to and have said are unworkable. This is a big joke. Looks like some leaders want the Vikings gone, but just dont want to be the ones to send them off, so they can save there own #### and political career. Like i said what a joke.

There are huge concerns until this thing is a done deal, but had the House not passed any bill, suffice it to say there would be little hope and zero chance of any further negotiations or votes that would keep the team in Minnesota. Let's put it this way - would you rather read that the House passed a bill with warts that will keep the team in Minnesota and allow the Senate to vote on it, or would you rather read that the House voted a bill down and today we'd read about the Wilfs entering serious talks with LA investors who want to buy the team? One of those two is worth getting excited about.

Goodell has come right out and stated that the NFL is not looking to expand any time soon. If the Vikes move the only options to replace them are an expansion team (yay! - after 50 years of watching the Vikes get close multiple times we'd get to start over from scratch), or hoping to pilfer a team from another city or state that has a preponderance of jackoffs elected to office.

Assuming the Senate passes the bill it goes to conf committee. There, Lanning et. al. and the Wilfs and the NFL will sit down with red pens and make it workable for both sides. Some of the amendments in the bill will be stripped out while others are altered significantly. In the end what goes back for a final vote by both chambers will be workable for both sides, and that is the key vote for this process. To get there, it has to start here, and it has.