It&8217;s good that the Vikings pulled out of their discussions with Anoka County. It&8217;s good that the Vikings want to stay in Minneapolis and have a new stadium in place of the Metrodome, a stadium that has served its purpose and needs to be replaced.

A new stadium for the Vikings in the 2007 legislative session would be good, too, if everyone was ready. The Vikings will have to wait until 2008, however. There are too many hurdles to clear.

Minneapolis needs to rewrite an ordinance that restricts the city from spending money on sports stadiums. (The Twins are working with Hennepin County for their new stadium.) The Vikings need to go through local channels, find their partners and have a funding plan in place for the lawmakers.

Besides, every other year the Legislature takes up a bonding bill, and this year is not the year.

Next year will be a better time to have the discussion. The ongoing session is dealing with substantive matters of education, taxes, jobs, health care, smoking and transportation, among others.

The Vikings might play their cards well by lying low around the Capitol until next winter. They don&8217;t want to weary the lawmakers on the discussion.

And when they return, the Vikings should have a plan together, one where the cost of a stadium is paid for by owner Zygi Wolf and metropolitan agencies &8212; not with money from greater Minnesota. The Twins set a good example for them.