It's Not $64, It's 83¢

Today's Star Tribune contained two letters about the possible Vikings stadium, responding to Sen. John Marty's op-ed on the $64 per seat per game subsidy it would require. (See my earlier post on this topic.)

One letter essentially agreed with my thoughts, suggesting they tack the $64 charge onto the tickets. The other took a radically different approach:

Sen. Marty states that public financing for a new Vikings stadium would subsidize the 65,000 seats in the new stadium at $64 per game, per seat, for 30 years.

Do the math: 65,000 seats times $64 each divided by 5 million residents in the state of Minnesota equals $0.832 per game per citizen. Marty thinks this is a lot of money to watch a Vikings game on your home TV. I don't think so.

-- David Jones, Burnsville

83 cents per game per person for every man, woman and child in the state for 30 years. Just so we can watch the game on TV if we are so inclined, with the warm feeling that it is being broadcast from Minnesota rather than some other location.

Thanks, David, that sure makes it sound a whole lot better!