Minnesota United FC are set to enter MLS in 2017, but before that, they want to have a new stadium, or at least solid plans to build one. Their current stadium, the National Sports Center, only holds 8,000 people. The team is proposing a 20,000 seat stadium in St. Paul that will be built on a development site of 34.5 acres, according to FOX 9.
“We're putting a soccer stadium in a place that we think is great for the state, for the community and for the Twin Cities,” said team owner Bill McGuire. "This developer has seen this as a great opportunity to help spur development."
Plans of the actual stadium will not be released until next month, the earliest that the city council could approve it would be April, after it has worked its way through the committees.
"Office space, residential, retail, hotel or hospitality, entertainment and open space," McGuire told the Snelling-Midway Community Advisory Committee on Thursday when the plan was revealed.
The stadium plan as a whole would cost approximately $120 Million, but team owners are promising that taxpayers won't have to pay anything for the stadium, something that pro sports teams rarely promise when proposing new stadiums.
When the Minnesota Twins built Target Field, the county paid for $392 million with a 0.15% sales tax. The Minnesota Vikings new stadium, set to open in the fall, is being paid for by the state by a mix of electronic pull-tabs, and a sales tax on cigarette sales in the state.
The team is set to open their final season in the NASL with an exhibition game against the Portland Timbers on Sunday evening. Their first regular season league game will be on April 2, when they travel to Carolina to take on the Railhawks.