Bill McGuire enters the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk earlier this

month.

Building a new soccer stadium in Minneapolis will be "very difficult" if requested

tax breaks aren't secured this year, Minnesota United FC team owner Bill
McGuire said Thursday.

But McGuire added that stadium backers are flexible about how the property tax
savings are achieved, including possible public ownership of the stadium.
McGuire made the comments on Minnesota Public Radio, in his first extensive
remarks since announcing the proposal earlier this month.

McGuire and his investment group -- which includes Star Tribune owner Glen
Taylor -- are seeking to build a $150 million stadium near Minneapolis' farmers
market. They have requested not to pay sales taxes on construction materials or
property taxes on the facility, the latter of which faces opposition from Mayor
Betsy Hodges.

Asked why those tax breaks are needed -- after the investment group has paid so
much for the stadium -- McGuire said the facility would be essentially "noneconomic" at $25 million to $30 million a year in revenue.

"Each one of these things that cost money go against that and pretty quickly you
run into the problem of financing this on an ongoing basis so youre not asking
people to above and beyond the money theyve put in in the beginning to
write a check every year," McGuire said. "So thats just one of the elements.

Hodges has said it would be unprecedented to give a private entity a permanent

property exemption. She estimated the city would lose out on $3.4 million to
$4.2 million per year.

The city does offer tax increment financing to redirect taxes toward debt
payments on major private projects -- but those districts have expiration dates.
Other local stadiums don't pay taxes because they are privately owned.

Seeming to loosen his call earlier this month for a complete exemption, McGuire
said they are seeking "some kind of help on the property tax on the land and the
structure that is built."

We have not been specific as to the vehicle it can take," he said, adding later
that they are not adverse to the stadium being publicly owned. The head of the
Minnesota Ballpark Authority, which owns Target Field, has been active in the
MLS deal behind the scenes.

We have been ... thinking about [public ownership] as something that might
make sense for a number of reasons," McGuire said. "And certainly that puts us
in the realm of the other entities. Of course the other entities all got public
money as well.

McGuire said Minneapolis and other communities have a long history of offering
tax relief to lure various businesses. "Not everybody has agreed with those, but
they have certainly occurred," McGuire said.

The deal faces long odd of passing the Legislature this year, given a lack of
interest and time running out toward a May scheduled adjournment. McGuire
wouldn't say definitively if the stadium was contingent on a deal this year.

"I think it would make it very difficult to build the stadium," McGuire said.

He somewhat dismissed a Senate vote earlier this month expressing opposition

to subsidies for a soccer stadium. "It is not necessarily indicative of a lack of
interest or support," McGuire said. "And it also mentioned subsidizing the
stadium ... is that construction or not?

McGuire took heat from several callers, including one who asked "How much is
enough for someone who is a billionaire?"

Im not a billionaire. Im far far less than that. ... But I think the bigger question
that youre getting at people are coming forth, a group of people, to do
something that is unprecedented in the community and frankly pretty much

around the country," McGuire said. "And that is to privately fund an economic
development play for our community to make sure soccer is here.

Precisely what happens next with regard to the deal remain unclear. No
legislators have authored a bill to make it possible. And while Senate Majority
Leader Tom Bakk said he wants to see support from Minneapolis and Hennepin
County, neither have yet done so formally.