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Vikings: Lease Really Does Expire In 2011

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The Minnesota Vikings are disputing a reading of their lease that suggests they might have to play in the Metrodome for one more season after this one.

Vice President Lester Bagley tells The Associated Press the team is on "firm legal footing" in its understanding that the lease expires after this season.

That has long been the understanding as the team pushed for a new stadium, with new urgency in the Legislature in recent weeks.

But the head of the commission that runs the Metrodome, Ted Mondale, told the Star Tribune that a clause in the lease triggers a one-year extension if the team is forced to play elsewhere for part of a season. That's just what happened last year when a snowstorm collapsed the Dome's roof.

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