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Vikings Launch Media Campaign On Stadium Efforts

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers will be staring each other down Monday night at Lambeau Field.

The Packers are still undefeated this season, while the Vikings' record currently stands at 2-6.

But it isn't only the teams' records that stand in sharp contrast to each other. While the Packers are having little problem putting together a plan for a $140 million stadium renovation, the Vikings' plan for a new stadium has stalled.

So, beyond the ads for beer and Buffalo wings, Monday Night Football will also feature the Vikings' latest campaign for a new stadium.

The team announced Monday that their broader media campaign regarding stadium efforts will launch during Monday's game.

The advocacy video was unveiled Saturday, Nov. 5 and was designed to drive accurate information on the stadium issue and remind everyone what the Vikings mean to Minnesota.

The campaign features online, radio, print and TV ads, which will be unveiled over the next few weeks. The team also plans to make community stops around the state to discuss the issue with fans.

Gov. Mark Dayton has tried to force a deadline on the legislature calling on lawmakers to agree on having a deal in place by Feb. 24.

The Packers have a simple way to pay for their renovation. The team plan to sell shares for $250 a share.

Minnesota Rep. Phyllis Kahn thinks that's a great idea, and has a bill that would make Zygi Wilf sell 70 percent of the team to the public. The proceeds from the sale of shares would fund a new stadium.

"I have had a really positive response from a certain number of legislators and a certain number of people in the process," said Kahn.

But there is one problem: the NFL bars public ownership with the exception of the Packers, who have been grandfathered in. And the NFL plans to keep it that way.

"The Packers ownership structure is a vestige of an earlier time and only works because of decisions made over time that would not be possible to retrofit now," the NFL's senior vice president told WCCO.

So the Vikings and the state are left trying to reach a deal.

Incidentally, the Packers' stockholders don't get tickets or even dividends, they only get the pride of saying they're team owners. Taxpayers in Green Bay have so far been willing to pay out of their own pocket.

In 2000, Brown County passed a half-cent sales tax for a $300 million stadium renovation. That's the same amount of sales tax that has been taken off the table for the Vikings' Arden Hills site.

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