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Some Minn. Lawmakers Content To Let Vikings Move To L.A.

Minnesota lawmakers may be content to let the state's NFL franchise move to Los Angeles.

A group of Minnesota state legislators have made clear that they're willing to let the Minnesota Vikings leave the state rather than cut a deal to pump public money into a new stadium for the NFL franchise, CBS Sports reports.

"We don't want them to leave, but if they're going to leave I guess that is going to happen," Sen. David Hann, a member of a bipartisan group of lawmakers fighting efforts to expand gambling to help pay for a new stadium, said in a news conference. The team has four more games in its lease at its current home, the Metrodome.

There is a plan under discussion to construct a casino in downtown Minneapolis. The owners would be required to pay a $20 million license fee and 5 percent of that would be put toward the stadium costs, according to CBS Sports.

Estimated construction costs range from $900 million to more than $1 billion. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak has said the city is willing to shoulder up to $300 million of the cost. Part of that contribution would come from a 0.35 percent increase in sales tax and an extra 1 percent tax on hotel bills, the news agency reports.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has previously reported that the Vikings are one of the franchises that could move to Los Angeles since the city began its efforts to bring back an NFL team.

Dylan Scott is a GOVERNING staff writer.
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