Minnesota governor rejects plan for stadium near basilica

I hope the Vikings get their new stadium, but I'm glad the basilica is safe.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton does not want the Vikings' new football stadium to be built near the Basilica of Saint Mary, where it was seen as a potentially serious threat to parish life.

“We are grateful that Governor Dayton considered our concerns and valued the work we do in making a decision to remove the Linden Avenue and Farmers Market sites from the list of potential sites for the Vikings Stadium,” officials at the basilica said in an online statement.

Church representatives said they “support the Vikings staying in Minnesota” but had “very serious concerns about the impacts of building a stadium and event center so close to the basilica.”

“I understood their concerns, and they were very valid,” Gov. Dayton told the Associated Press on Jan. 25, following his two recent meetings with the basilica's rector Father John Bauer.

The priest reportedly told the governor that the basilica would consider legal action against plans for a stadium in its vicinity, due to concerns over impacts on ministries, parking, and other effects on the historic church.

Dayton now says a new stadium at the location of the Vikings' existing Metrodome is “the only viable option,” if the team is to receive public funding for the project in the 2012 legislative session.

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