The purpose of this chapter is to provide for the construction, financing, and long-term use of a stadium and related stadium infrastructure as a venue for professional football and a broad range of other civic, community, athletic, educational, cultural, and commercial activities. The legislature finds and declares that the expenditure of public money for this purpose is necessary and serves a public purpose, and that property acquired by the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority for the construction of the stadium and related stadium infrastructure is acquired for a public use or public purpose under chapter 117. The legislature further finds and declares that any provision in a lease or use agreement with a professional football team that requires the team to play all of its home games in a publicly funded stadium for the duration of the lease or use agreement, serves a unique public purpose for which the remedies of specific performance and injunctive relief are essential to its enforcement. The legislature further finds and declares that government assistance to facilitate the presence of professional football provides to the state of Minnesota and its citizens highly valued intangible benefits that are virtually impossible to quantify and, therefore, not recoverable even if the government receives monetary damages in the event of a team's breach of contract. Minnesota courts are, therefore, charged with protecting those benefits through the use of specific performance and injunctive relief as provided in this chapter and in the lease and use agreements.
History:2012 c 299 art 1 s 9