Vikings, governor and mayor unveil downtown stadium plan

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The annual Packer-Viking game in Minnesota will be played at the Metrodome for at least one more year. New plans for a proposed future stadium were unveiled in the Twin Cities on Thursday.

Vikings owners, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak announced a financing package that state and city lawmakers would still have to approve. The stadium would be located next to the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis.

The stadium would cost $975 million dollars, almost 20 times what it cost to build the original Dome in the early 1980s.

The Vikings would pay $427 million of the construction costs. The state would kick in $400 million. And the city would pay $150 million with sales taxes.

Rybak says the plan would create 11,000 jobs.

Rodgers visits Brewers training camp

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers spent some time Wednesday, Feb. 29, at the Milwaukee Brewers spring training camp in Phoenix.

The National Football League’s MVP ran to the outfield to shag some balls. He’s planning to film some TV spots for the Brewers.

Rodgers is a close friend of Brewers slugger Ryan Braun. He staunchly defended Braun while arbitrators were deciding whether to overturn Braun’s 50-game suspension for testing positive for what was reported to be synthetic testosterone.

Braun was exonerated late last week. Rodgers immediately went on Twitter to proclaim that Major League Baseball “tried to sully the reputation of an innocent man.”

Packers will show off new video boards

The Green Bay Packers newest stockholders will get to see part of what they paid for if they attend the team’s annual meeting this summer.

Team president Mark Murphy said Thursday that the new and improved video boards at Lambeau Field will debut at the stockholders meeting.

Those boards are part of a $143 million renovation of Lambeau that includes 6,700 new seats in the south end zone.

Almost half the project is being financed by the 268,000 shares of stock that were sold from mid-December through Wednesday night when the sale officially ended.

Murphy said the results were “humbling and overwhelming.” About a quarter-million new shareholders were added as a result of the sale, and about half are from Wisconsin.

The Packers now have 360,000 total owners. Murphy said the team would apply to the NFL for a loan to cover the rest of the stadium renovation, which is due to be completed by 2013.

In the meantime, the Packers expect a bigger turnout for its next stockholders meeting, which is normally held two days before training camp begins in July. Up to 15,000 people have attended the annual meetings in recent years.

Tags: sports, football, proam