Do we want the Vikings or not?

We could spin out a long piece considering this study or that study. We could attempt to justify the ways of big league franchises and their stadiums. We could commiserate with beleaguered taxpayers at the prospect of subsidizing the interests of a billionaire. We could indulge ourselves in the fog of nuance.

Or we could get to the point. Which is, if we really want to keep the Vikings, it’s time to summon the political will to get the deal done. At this point it’s a matter of leadership. Ramsey County Commissioners Tony Bennett and Rafael Ortega have done their part. Now we need the governor and Legislature to lead. Or decide not to and accept the consequences.

After years of to and fro, there is only one plan: the Arden Hills plan. You’d think that given the components, it would be well on its way already: Public-private partnerships, shovel-readiness, reclamation of polluted ground; these things are all the rage. To top it off, there are the beloved Minnesota Vikings. And an owner who has spent a lot on player salaries and wants to keep the team in Minnesota.

One would think, given the above ingredients, this thing would be a done deal.

We build wind farms to generate electricity (three times more expensively than the usual ways), we take down coal plants and put up natural gas plants, we go to great expense to build buildings with the landscaping on the roof, we pay farmers to turn corn into fuel rather than food and then pay higher food prices to boot, and we pride ourselves on reclaiming sites lost to pollution. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars on light rail systems that will never run in the black. All this requires massive government subsidy. Many of these massively subsidized endeavors don’t turn out so well. (Think ethanol, think Solyndra, think the 876 Bond Fund.)

But the Arden Hills Vikings stadium has more going for it. It’s private and public, it’s green, and it will work. If the government is going to be involved in public works projects — and it will whether we approve or not — why not pick a winner?

We are as skeptical as most about the role of government in interfering with the markets. But politicians being politicians, the government will interfere. The state simply will spend $300 million and much much more on this and that. There are and will be worse ways to spend it than on a stadium for the Vikings.

As to the site, Arden Hills is the place. That’s where the Vikings want to be. It’s equidistant from Minneapolis and St. Paul. It has the enormous advantage of cleaning up the state’s largest Superfund site. And there’s no alternative plan.

The $300 million state contribution is not site dependent. The state will chip in that amount regardless of where the Vikings build. Gov. Dayton rightly points out that there are “unanswered questions.” But of course. On the issues that most require leadership, there will always be unanswered questions. …

One more word about leadership. Among politicians it’s relatively rare. But Bennett and Ortega, to their credit, have led the way to this choice. Now it’s the governor’s turn. And the Legislature’s. Let’s see some leadership. Or are all parties now the parties of “no”?

— St. Paul Pioneer Press. Oct. 17