A newspaper editorial this week says the Vikings deserve a new stadium but calls for metro-area taxpayers to pony up, not outstate taxpayers.

The call comes from the Albert Lea Tribune, located 97 miles south of Minneapolis.

"We urge Vikings officials to seek a public-private partnership not with the state but with city and county authorities in the metropolitan area. That’s how the Minnesota Twins found the sales tax revenue for Target Field. And that route frankly is where the political winds in Minnesota are blowing right now. It makes little sense to push for a state-funded partnership that seems fated to fail from the onset."

Here's the reasoning:

The people in outstate Minnesota contribute to the economy of the metro area when they visit for sports contests. It costs more for someone from Albert Lea to see a game than someone from, say, the Como neighborhood of St. Paul. An outstater pays for tickets, food and beverages like others, but they also are more likely to pay for parking, hotel, restaurant, gasoline, shopping and even other entertainment.

A Como resident can take public transportation to the stadium, then head home. An outstater often makes a short vacation out of it.