Professional football might not be the most pressing issue in Minnesota right now. However, the issue of a stadium has lingered for more than a dozen years, always placed on the back burner as other issues big and small came and went.

The leaders of the state and the metro area need to stop punting to the next year. They need to let the National Football League know whether or not the Twin Cities wants to be an NFL city.

It’s unfair to the NFL, to the owners of the Minnesota Vikings, to the employees of the Vikings and to the fans who support the stadium. Are we in or out? Yes or no?

Being against any legislative session to study the issue of a football stadium is, frankly, too easy of a stance to take. The fact is, the matter needs to be addressed once and for all. A legislative session in St. Paul this fall seems apt. It pulls the matter of the stadium away from all the other more-pressing matters state lawmakers will deal with starting in January.

Some newspapers have editorialized that the Vikings’ poor record this season hurts their chances in the Legislature. That’s false logic. Here is real number to look at: The Vikings regularly rank as having the seventh-largest fan base in the NFL. Sometimes sixth. Sometimes eighth. Either way, it is a fan base the vast majority of sports franchises in North America drool over. In other words, regardless of their record, there are a lot of people across Minnesota, the Midwest and America who care about this stadium issue. They say this: Other NFL places have found solutions. Why can’t we?

This Editorial Board has stated time and again that we oppose using state government tax revenue to pay for a stadium. Considering the metropolitan area benefits the most from a stadium, the public revenue portion must come from a metro source, just like how a Hennepin County sales tax paid the public portion on Target Field.

But public funding is another matter.

This editorial, specifically, is calling on state lawmakers and their metropolitan cohorts to lead and come to a decision. Stop nitpicking over little details and come to a general consensus. Give the Vikings and the NFL their answer. Arden Hills? Farmers market? Metrodome site? Take a hike to Los Angeles?

Whatever they decide, it ought to be the final answer. No more punting. Here is our offer, Zygi Wilf. Take it or leave it.

That way, the stadium issue is resolved this fall and come January lawmakers can get down to brass tacks.