We thought St. Paul’s bid for a professional soccer stadium was made in a new era of regionalism in the Twin Cities. Perhaps we were wrong.

A TV-news report last week about Hennepin County leaders’ discussion of bringing the facility to Minneapolis — and a subsequent denial that there is no active plan for a “soccer steal” from St. Paul — raise the doubt.

It would be a shame if the notion behind regionalism — that when one part of the region prospers, so do we all — only works when Minneapolis comes up the winner.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Minnesota United FC team owner Bill McGuire announced in October that the stadium will be built just off University and Snelling avenues on vacant property owned by the Metropolitan Council. The location of the former “bus barn” storage facility will be the site of a $120-million, nearly 20,000-seat stadium expected to open in 2018.

St. Paul made its case — and won — stressing the heart-of-the-Twin Cities location between both downtowns with the advantage of transportation access and opportunities for “catalytic” redevelopment of the surrounding area.

There is confidence around town that all will proceed as planned. After all, this is one stadium deal that’s different from the others.

“There’s reason to be positive,” Rep. Alice Hausman of St. Paul, ranking Democrat on the House Capital Investment Committee, told us. “The owners have certainly been upfront. They’ve been very clear. They’re building this,” she said.

The team will finance the stadium, and it will be publicly owned once construction is complete.

Yes, tax breaks are part of the deal, but the site already is off the tax rolls and has been for about 50 years. Continuation of its tax-exempt status will require legislative approval.

Lawmakers also will be asked to sign off on exempting sales taxes on stadium construction materials. The provision was one the team asked for all along, even when it was in talks with Minneapolis, notes Tonya Tennessen, a spokeswoman for the St. Paul mayor.

But until St. Paul’s plans are made public and ultimately approved, Minneapolis stadium proponents remain open to the possibility of MLS soccer, the Pioneer Press reported.

St. Paul’s efforts are on track, Tennessen said, and a stadium “development and use agreement” is expected to be before the City Council in January. City leaders, she told us, are encouraged by the response they have received from legislative leadership and Gov. Mark Dayton.

It’s been reported that the council recently gave the mayor’s office permission to hire a lobbying firm — one that previously represented Minnesota United and helped secure the Minnesota Twins’ stadium approval — to assist the city in making its case when the Legislature convenes in March.

As action takes shape at the Capitol, we’ll likely see the stadium measures included in a comprehensive tax bill, Hausman explains.

But she cautions: In 2015, there were such big differences “between what the House and Senate wanted to do that we couldn’t agree on a tax bill. That’s the biggest challenge.”

We’ve noted that St. Paul has been played against its twin in previous stadium negotiations. This time, we hoped that the belief at the heart of regionalism — that what’s good for one place strengthens the entire region — would elevate the rhetoric beyond the jabs that marked previous bids.

St. Paul made its case for soccer in the Midway with clarity and hometown pride. The better site won.