In the past week, the Minnesota legislature passed a bill to create a brand new Vikings stadium. In that bill, there are provisions for the Vikings to also bring an MLS team to that stadium (see the FAQs for more on the specifics of the bill). This is potentially great news. We are in a position to see a solid bid made for an MLS team with an established ownership group, plus a state of the art stadium.

We also stand at a dangerous point. Right now, we have professional soccer in Minnesota. In fact, we have the 2011 NASL champions in Minnesota. But this team needs an ownership group. Soon. I can’t imagine a potential owner walking up and trying to buy a team when the Vikings have mentioned bringing an MLS team to the state. And so, if the Vikings aren’t serious about soccer in Minnesota, we could see this MLS dream fall apart and take professional soccer out of the state completely. That is a very real possibility.

So what do we do? Now, we organize. We get together every soccer supporter we know and we get the Vikings to take us and soccer seriously. Then we get MLS to take us seriously. We put on a show. We stop dreaming about major league soccer and we stop latching on to the history of European clubs and we build on the already legendary Minnesotan soccer support. There are lots of other cities that want MLS teams. It’s our time to stand up and show the world why we deserve it more than anyone else.

Great video by the StarTribune talking with Mayor R.T. Rybak about the new Vikings stadium and the surrounding area.

Soccer comes up very quickly in the conversation.

Watch the video here:  http://www.startribune.com/video/151218675.html

Moments ago on @SoccerInsider’s Twitter account during Commissioner Garber’s press conference at the new BBVA Compass Stadium:

Garber, on Minnesota: “It goes on the list” of possible expansion sites now that new NFL stadium has been approved #mls

Follow Steven Goff: https://twitter.com/#!/SoccerInsider

All of us, by now, are tired of the Stadium debate. By the end of this process, I don’t know if we will have built a Martian explorer, an oil rig, or a stadium. It’s annoying, I know. But let me take a brief moment to make one request of Minnesotan soccer fans.

As I write, the stadium bill is in conference. That means a small group of legislators must now reconcile the differences between the House and Senate bills that passed earlier this week. The differences are legion and I don’t care if you hate gambling, user fees, or whatever. The most important part of this process is that the Senate version of the bill cuts out two key provisions regarding bringing MLS to MN.

Senator Warren Limmer of Maple Grove introduced an amendment that could kill chances of bringing a major sports team to Minnesota (might I suggest all you Maple Grove residents send him an email? sen.warren.limmer@senate.mn). The provisions are: a five year exclusivity deal and rent-free usage of the new stadium. Limmer and others argue that this amounts to a monopoly for the Vikes and MLS! How can there be a monopoly when no one else has considered bringing MLS to Minnesota in the first place?

The five year exclusivity deal gives the Wilfs a time frame: bring in an MLS team within this time, or else someone else can. Five years does not offer much time, considering that the Wilfs will have to spend five years convincing the MLS that Minnesota should get the 20th team rather than Orlando or another good candidate. As for the rent, this is the carrot to bring in a team. Bringing MLS to Minnesota will require a significant investment on the part of the Wilfs. The franchise fee alone will probably be between $70-100 (the Vikings give a lower number, but Commissioner Garber has already said it will be the number I just gave). If they are going to invest that kind of money in bringing a major team to Minnesota, the rent-free part can be seen as the incentive.

Those provisions, the only incentives for the only person in Minnesota who has seriously considered bringing MLS to MN, they’re gone. That is, unless you do something. At the bottom of this post are the legislators responsible for the conference. The Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, MPR, all our major news sources have been shamefully quiet on this issue. We have the chance to bring the league with the 3rd highest ave. league attendance to Minnesota and they’re not talking about it? Nope, it’s up to us. Email these legislators, tell your friends and your grandma.

I should be clear that there are many remaining obstacles. The Wilfs have a lot of questions to answer and have yet to really prove that they are serious about soccer in Minnesota. But we have this first hurdle to jump and without these provisions in the stadium bill, we are spending all this money without a real possibility of ever seeing MLS in MN. I strongly urge you to write these legislators and tell them to help bring Major League Soccer to Minnesota.
Joe Hoppe – rep.joe.hoppe@house.mn
Morrie Lanning – rep.morrie.lanning@house.mn
Terry Morrow – rep.terry.morrow@house.mn

Senate
Julie Rosen – sen.julie.rosen@senate.mn
Roger Reinert – sen.roger.reinert@senate.mn
Bill Ingebrightensen – sen.bill.ingebrigtsen@senate.mn

An amendment to kill the Vikings’ right to bring in a Major League Soccer team to Minnesota in the first 5 years of operation was struck down by the finance committee yesterday, leaving the door open for the possibility of a soccer team owned by the Wilfs.

Brian Quarstad has all the details over at IMSoccer News:

http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2012/04/26/as-minnesota-vikings-new-stadium-inches-closer-to-reality-so-does-a-mls-team-maybe/

Mark Abbott, President of Major League Soccer, laid out in a visit to Carolina a three-point path to MLS for any would-be MLS city:

1. An ownership group “willing to take on the financial burden of both buying and owning a team.”

2. A stadium that can hold at least 20,000 fans.

3. A market that can generate regular crowds near the MLS average of 18,000, provide corporate support and is a major television market.

The Major League Soccer president said that while the league hopes to add a 20th team soon (NYC2) the timetable for further expansion is far more hazy.

“We haven’t determined what the timetable for expansion will be,” Abbott said. “In the United States and Canada, there’s the capacity to have more than 20 teams, but how we do that has not been determined yet.”

Read the full article from the Cary News here

The Sanneh Foundation’s Second Annual Gala 4 Goals
Saturday, March 24, 2012 at The Depot Minneapolis

The Sanneh Foundation’s second annual Gala 4 Goals will be a fun filled, spirited evening to inform our guests of the valuable work of the foundation in The Twin Cities and around the world. The evening will feature a silent auction, good food, music, as well as special guest speakers from the US Women’s National Team. Temryss Lane, Danielle Slaton, Kate Markgraf and Leslie Osborne are scheduled to appear.

Event timeline:

6 p.m. – VIP meet and greet
7 p.m. – Gala and silent auction begins
8:30 p.m. – Program begins
9 p.m. – Program concludes, music begins
10:30 p.m. – Gala concludes

Click here to purchase tickets

Brian Quarstad of IMS Soccer news recently interviewed Commissioner David Downs of the NASL about a large range of topics, including expansion both of NASL and MLS. Around the seven and a half minute mark the conversation turns to MLS expansion in Minnesota.  The following is an excerpt of the interview:

Brian Quarstad

Does this whole talk with the Vikings hurt that process (finding an owner for the MN Stars) to a certain extent?  It happened in other cities where the team up and moved to MLS, or in this case, if they did actually have a team in MLS in a number of years.  Does it throw a monkey wrench a bit when Zigi Wilf is talking MLS?

David Downs

I think it’s our job to convince people in markets that harboring MLS hopes that one of the best ways to get into MLS is to build a strong fanbase at the D2 level and progress on up.  Obviously we’re very proud of what Montreal is doing this year.  We recognize that our teams were playing alongside Seattle, Vancouver, and Portland as recently as a couple years ago.  We don’t think having MLS aspirations hurts our cause for a city. We think we’re a pretty proven path of how to get there.

 I think the other thing that’s just reality these days is MLS is approaching some limits on the amount of expansion they can do. Some that are self-imposed literally by the asking price and some that are more FIFA and international convention.  I’m not saying those are hard limits but you sort of look around the world and you see that 20 teams is pretty much the maximum for a first division in any country.  You wonder even if they could get a line of owners willing to pay upwards of 50 to 100 million how many markets would they realistically go into?  We don’t think it hurts us that much.  As a matter of fact, we welcome any team that wants to use us as a stepping stone to move forward.  I think the realistic thing is there won’t be that many opportunities for teams to enter MLS over the next decade but there are obviously plenty of opportunities to enter NASL in the next decade.

Listen to the whole interview at IMS Soccer.

Michael Rand of the Star Triubne asked Dan Courtemanche, MLS Executive VP of Communications, questions about possible MLS expansion.

Why is Minnesota viable? There are four key criteria the MLS looks at for possible expansion targets, Courtemanche said: committed local ownership with resources (Montreal paid a $40 million expansion fee and the figure will continue to rise); a stadium plan — preferably but not necessarily in a soccer-specific stadium; good market size; and a history of fan support.

Read the full article, which explains all of the reasons why the Twin Cities are in the “primary tier” of target markets if the league expands further.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/141093003.html

Gov. Mark Dayton on Thursday announced the state, the City of Minneapolis and the Minnesota Vikings have reached an agreement to build a new Vikings stadium near the site of the Metrodome, pending approval from the Minneapolis City Council and the state Legislature.

The stadium would have a fixed roof and be built to the east of the existing Metrodome site.  The cost would be $828 million and on-site infrastructure / relocation costs would be $147 million. Annual operating expenses and capital costs are pegged at $20.5 million, divided between the Vikings ($13 million) and the city ($7.5 million).

Ted Mondale, chair of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, said there are hopes to bring a Major League Soccer team to the new building, too. The agreement calls for the Vikings to pay for any and all game-day expenses for MLS games as well.

Read more about the stadium here:

http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/141027143.html

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/Governor_announces_Vikings_stadium_deal_Now_the_real_work_begins030112