Venue News: Vikings Suspend Stadium Push in Government Shutdown’s Wake

As Minnesota faces a state government shutdown caused by budget disputes between the legislature and governor, the Vikings ownership has temporarily suspended their drive to get an Arden Hills stadium bill passed. Sympathetic to those who will be adversely affected by the shutdown, the team believes that campaigning for a stadium while Minnesota’s citizens lose their jobs would be inappropriate.  Although reports earlier this week suggested the stadium’s price tag had been slashed by $200 million, conflicting sources now suggest the cost for the venue remains at $1 billion. The Wilf family has agreed to contribute $407 million, plus additional money they pledged in a recent meeting with the governor…

…The South Dakota Board of Regents has approved preliminary statements from South Dakota State and the University of South Dakota, the state’s two largest universities, to build three new sports facilities. SDSU wants to build a football stadium that seats at least 20,000 people and an indoor practice facility complete with an 80-yard field, 300-meter track, and room for 1,000 spectators. USD wants a new 6,000-seat arena for basketball and volleyball, plus renovations to the DakotaDome, packaged as a single project. USD will spend $125,000 on its facility program plan, while SDSU has estimated costs at $400,000 to $600,000 and $250,000 to $350,000 on planning for the football stadium and indoor facility, respectively. Both schools must fund the projects with private donations…

…St. Petersburg business leaders are blasting a proposed city charter amendment that would require voter approval for public projects of more than $100 million, including professional sports facilities, believing that it unfairly targets the Tampa Bay Rays. Even though stadium negotiations between the team and St. Petersburg remain at a standstill, the bitterness associated with constructing a new Rays venue is nothing new. Many still harbor resentment over the City Council’s decision to use taxpayer money to build Tropicana Field in the 1980s without giving voters a say. In 2009, that lingering resentment boiled over as the Rays walked away from plans for a new $450 million waterfront stadium…

…Pro football talk in Southern California is heating up with rival stadium proposals on the table. Pomplous, already the architect of record for the 75,000-seat NFL stadium planned for east Los Angeles County, has been hired to do work on a rival proposal that sports and entertainment firm AEG wants to build on downtown Los Angeles’ convention center campus. Populous will design a replacement for a convention center building that would be demolished to make room for a 72,000- to 76,000-seat football stadium with a retractable roof that’s expected to cost more than $1 billion. Meanwhile, AEG’s rival, Majestic Realty Co., envisions an open-air venue on what is now a rugged hillside in the city of Industry, about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles …

…The Barclays Center of Brooklyn, future home of the Nets franchise, has formed a strategic programming alliance with the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the largest performing arts center in the borough. BAM, which is located two blocks away from the Barclays Center, will serve as artistic consultants to identify unique shows from throughout the world for the venue. 
BAM will recommend several artistic event options for the Barclays Center and will facilitate communication between the arena and the artistic companies.  Set to open on September 28, 2012, the Barclays Center will be both an NBA destination and part of a vibrant and unique cultural district.