Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman announced in his State of the City address that the Minnesota Thunder and Lightning need a permanent home, and that the city would like to build a stadium for the teams as part of its strategic plan for redevelopment. The Mayor spoke to a overflow crowd on Monday at the Dayton's Bluff Recreational Center auditorium.

Blue Sky Soccer has learned that Joe Spencer is the point man for the Mayor's office. Mr. Spencer revealed that two locations the city is looking at are the High Bridge coal plant site on Shepherd Road, along the river and just west of Downtown, and the current Midway Stadium site, home of the Saint Paul Saints. The Mayor's vision included two stadiums, one for the St. Paul Saints and another for the Thunder. The stadiums would share a parking lot. Previously, the Diamond Product Manufacturing site had been mentioned but it is believed that this site would be cost prohibitive.

Spencer stated that a stadium and parking lot is actually a best case scenario for EPA clean-up properties like the coal plant. The land could be entombed and paved over in the case of the parking lot. Drainage for the fields might present more of a clean-up problem but it's still easier than if housing were placed in that location. In that scenario earth would have to be removed, disposed and treated. Then new fill would have to be brought in to replace the old soil.

The soccer stadium would have field turf installed and as of current plans there would be no (American) football lines installed. This stadium would also be used for other activities, such as concerts. Manny Lagos of the Thunder and school board member Anne Carroll both confirmed that the Thunder had met with St. Paul School board members on Friday to discuss how this facility could also benefit school district 625.

The initial stadium sketches are expected to be finished by the end of April. The city would like to have plans in hand by then so it can include any possible requests for state funds in its bonding priorities for next year. The requests will be due in June.