"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.