The new stadium in Minnesota is among the three finalists for Super Bowl LII. However, it appears that some members of the state legislature don’t want to give $10 million in tax breaks to the NFL for player salaries, tickets and Super Bowl events. This is running into the normal partisan situation of approving such breaks or potentially allowing the game to go to another city.
The other two finalists, Indianapolis and New Orleans, have already approved the tax breaks for the NFL. If the state legislature in Minnesota doesn’t do this though, it is likely that the game is going to head either to Indy and the Big Easy. That is something that the state and city would love to avoid since they haven’t had the game in 26 years and would love to showcase their new stadium to the entire sporting world.
There are obviously the normal problems that every state in the north is dealing with however with potholes, snow removal and the fact that the game would be played in the dead of winter to go with improvements needed around the state. The economic impact of the game going to Minnesota could be tremendous for the state and would allow for all the improvements that are needed to help. This is just $10 million in tax breaks for an event that could bring somewhere between $100-300 million to the local economy.
The state’s bid for Super Bowl LII is due on April 1. It is an election year and politicians are doing what they normally do in years like this trying to get their agenda to be the right one no matter who gets hurt in the process. Minnesota governor Mark Dayton said last week the following which is perfect for the situation.
“Life will go on if we can’t keep this out of the partisan politics. We’ll just have to let the opportunity go by.”
It would be a real shame to let a chance like this go by the wayside over $10 million. It seems like so little money when the state had a $1.2 billion budget surplus after a tax hike recently. Time is running out for something to be agreed on or the chance at the Super Bowl in Minnesota will get snowed under.