The Minnesota Vikings and the Wilf family committed an additional private contribution of $46.1 million toward the new stadium, bringing the team’s total increased contributions to the project since last November to nearly $49 million, the team announced Friday.
The new amount locks in the team’s previous contingency guarantees of $26.4 million from last fall and includes an additional $19.7 million in cash. The $46.1 million is also in addition to the team’s $1.2 million and $1.3 million contributions earlier this year.
Combined, the additional dollars push the original team/private contribution of $477 million to nearly $526 million and increase the stadium budget from $975 million to approximately $1.024 billion.
The public contribution toward the project remains at $498 million.
“The Vikings have made a significant contribution to the stadium budget, which allows us to maintain the original design to ensure the stadium is the most iconic, world-class stadium in the country and perhaps the world,” Minnesota Sports Facilities Association chairperson Michele Kelm-Helgen said in a press release. “The team stepping up to make this contribution was instrumental in helping to solve our budget gap.”
The Vikings also have now absorbed a total of $23.2 million in costs of playing at the University of Minnesota for the 2014 and 2015 seasons, up from the $15 million announced by the team last November. These costs were included in the original $975 million budget in order to cover the team’s relocation expenses to TCF Bank Stadium but will now be directed toward construction costs of the new facility.
“It is critical that the original stadium design unveiled in 2013 is delivered to the public when the new stadium opens in 2016,” Vikings owner and president Mark Wilf said in a statement. “Our goal is to provide the best game day experience possible for our fans and for everyone in Minnesota who uses the stadium. We strongly believed eliminating significant items that contribute to that fan experience was not an option.”