The University of Minnesota needs a new stadium for the Golden Gopher football team.

While we don’t support taxpayer money being used to subsidize professional sports teams in the form of a new ballpark for the Minnesota Twins or a new Vikings stadium, the Gophers are different matter.

Unlike professional teams that blackmail governments into building them new facilities by threatening to move, the Gophers aren’t going anywhere.

The university has fielded a football team for more than a century. Their tradition and legacy are very rich. The maroon and gold are part of the very fabric of the state.

In the case of professional sports teams, many have pointed to the community-ownership model of the Green Bay Packers as one to emulate. The Gophers are truly community-owned. And, incredibly, their history predates even the Packers, going back to the 19th Century.

The plan university officials are expected to propose again this legislative session involves a $235 million construction cost for a 50,000-seat stadium right in the heart of the Minneapolis campus. Of the $235 million, university officials are asking the state to pitch in $94 million.

It’s a good deal.

The total cost is approximately half of what the Vikings and Twins are seeking from the public coffers. The university’s plans call for a traditional horseshoe design with lots of open air to provide spectators with an autumn college football experience on campus.

It was folly to tear down the old &uot;Brick House,&uot; officially known as Memorial Stadium, where so much history had played out over the years and move the team to the artificial confines of the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis.

It is true that one could find higher priorities at the Capitol than college sports. But the fact remains that the state’s land-grant university has a football team. That team enhances the college experience for students and provides an identity for the whole state. The university itself serves the state by its research and education missions which act as powerful economic engines for all Minnesota.

Unlike professional stadium proposals, the university appears to have solid support at the Capitol. During hearings on the matter last spring, several lawmakers representing districts in outstate Minnesota recalled driving to the campus to see memorable games.

House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, recently said he thought the university stood a good chance to win support for a stadium bill in the 2005 session.

Now, if we could just get the Little Brown Jug trophy back by beating Michigan.

&045; The Daily Journal (International Falls)