ST. PAUL — The oversight authority for the Minnesota Vikings’ new stadium issued nearly half of the tickets for a pair of luxury suites to friends and family of top officials and leased a third suite used for state profit, the state’s legislative auditor said Tuesday while releasing a report on the suite usage at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Republican legislators condemned the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority during the hearing of the Office of the Legislative Auditor investigation that raised concerns about sloppy record-keeping and a continued lack of oversight of the organization’s practice of giving away tickets for games and concerts at the new downtown Minneapolis stadium, which was partially funded by the public. First reported by the Star Tribune, concerns about political favoritism at the $1.1 billion facility have already led to new bills at the Legislature.

“Did it ever occur to you that there was something wrong with this?” Sen. Julie Rosen, a Republican who helped pass the stadium funding in 2012, asked incredulously. “There was obviously a level of trust in 2012 that is broken.”

According to the report, roughly 45 percent of the guests who attended Minnesota Vikings games or other events were friends or family of authority officials, while just 29 percent were marketing guests. Whether those numbers are accurate is unclear because the information provided by the authority was “poorly compiled, confusing, and incomplete.”

The authority also leased a third set of suite space inside the stadium to rent out during non-game events — no tickets were given away for free in that space, authority chair Michele Kelm-Helgen said at a hearing on the audit Tuesday.

“I think it was of great value to the state, to be honest,” she said.

The authority pays the Vikings $300,000 to lease the space for each of the next five years. It had made just $192,000 in revenue as of Tuesday, according to the authority.

Authority members didn’t break state law, but the auditor’s report said the marketing purpose of inviting friends, family and certain government employees is unclear. Metro Transit and University of Minnesota employees were also mentioned as questionable invites. Though no laws were broken, the report said the authority went against a “core ethical principle.”

“Clearly, we think the Authority strayed from that public purpose when it provided free tickets and suite access to people with no connection to marketing the stadium,” the audit said. “We think the public reaction was so negative and strong because Authority officials were obtaining something free that is expensive and even unavailable to many Minnesotans and their families.”

Several Democratic public officials paid back the authority $200 or more for previous games after the Star Tribune first published the story about the use of the suites, including: Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and her husband Gary Cunningham; Minneapolis city attorney Susan Segal and her husband, Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Myron Frans; City Council Member Jacob Frey; former Vice President Walter Mondale and others.

In response to the Star Tribune article, the Authority changed its policies to ban friends and family members from attending events in the suites. But the auditor’s report raised concerns that the list of people who could still get free tickets, such as public officials and “community member groups,” was still too broad.