"Negotiators are hurriedly finishing a plan that would have a new Minnesota Vikings stadium alongside the Metrodome substantially complete by 2016, requiring the team to play only a handful of games at the University of Minnesota.

Ted Mondale, Gov. Mark Dayton's chief stadium negotiator, said Friday that the fast-moving plan should be completed this week and could dramatically accelerate a decision to select a location for the long-debated project.

Although the newest plan involves an array of details, Mondale said the goal is still to offer an overall stadium plan -- financed partly by money from electronic pulltabs -- in time for a legislative vote this spring.

The latest proposal would have the Vikings play at the Metrodome through 2015. By that time, a new stadium next-door would be 75 percent complete. The Metrodome would be torn down and turned into a large plaza for pregame activities, according to both Mondale and a Vikings spokesman. The space would be large enough to accommodate a $19 million parking ramp for the team.

"I would think 2016 would be the 'go live' year," Mondale said. "Maybe the first two games you play" at the university's TCF Bank Stadium, "but before it gets cold, you'd be ready to go."

Playing at the smaller university stadium, "would be much more of a temporary thing," he said.

Both Mondale and the Vikings acknowledge that the scramble to find yet another way -- and site -- for the stadium is being driven by the team's estimate that it would cost nearly $50 million for the Vikings to play at TCF Bank stadium for three years while a new stadium was built at the Metrodome."