Team officials with the Minnesota Vikings were again at the state Legislature on Monday seeking a public-private partnership to fund a stadium to replace the Metrodome.

Indeed, the Vikings need a new home. The NFL is subsidizing this market $15 to $20 million a year largely because of the aging Metrodome the Vikings play in. You can imagine the pressure from other team owners.

However, we urge Vikings officials to seek a public-private partnership not with the state but with city and county authorities in the metropolitan area. That’s how the Minnesota Twins found the sales tax revenue for Target Field. And that route frankly is where the political winds in Minnesota are blowing right now. It makes little sense to push for a state-funded partnership that seems fated to fail from the onset.

Here is why: The people in outstate Minnesota contribute to the economy of the metro area when they visit for sports contests. It costs more for someone from Albert Lea to see a game than someone from, say, the Como neighborhood of St. Paul. An outstater pays for tickets, food and beverages like others, but they also are more likely to pay for parking, hotel, restaurant, gasoline, shopping and even other entertainment.

A Como resident can take public transportation to the stadium, then head home. An outstater often makes a short vacation out of it.

We urge metro officials seriously to consider what the Vikings propose. The team owner wishes to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in “Metrodome Next,” and this time, like modern stadiums in other big cities, it should be a boon to the east side of downtown. Moreover, the construction jobs are needed during the lagging economy, and it would be the best time to get decent construction bids.

The Vikings are renewing their lease at the Metrodome. It runs out in 2011. If anything, metro officials need to come to a clear answer on the question of where the Vikings play.