The issues standing in the way of a deal for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium in downtown Minneapolis are small and should be resolved within a week, team owner Zygi Wilf and Gov. Mark Dayton said Tuesday.

After meeting with the governor for more than an hour, Wilf declined to specify the terms of the deal as they stand, but he said the team will offer “in excess of $400 million” toward the project.

The team previously had not set a number for its contribution but had said it likely would not be as much as its proposed piece of the Arden Hills project – $425 million.

Asked if Arden Hills is dead as a possible site, Wilf said, “I’m never going to say never.” But he added, “We’re very close on hammering a deal right now for the Minneapolis location at Metrodome.”

State Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, who has taken a lead in the Senate’s stadium negotiations, has said she plans to introduce a bill that includes the Metrodome site if a deal can be struck.

“There are still matters to be negotiated, particularly with the city of Minneapolis,” Dayton said after meeting with Wilf at the Capitol. “The number of issues that remain are limited and can be overcome if all parties are willing.”

He said his chief stadium negotiator, Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission chairman Ted Mondale, will meet with Minneapolis officials this morning. Representatives from the city were not at Tuesday’s meeting.

Dayton said he’s hopeful a deal is close.

“I don’t use the word ‘optimistic’ with this project any longer, and I don’t specify timetables any longer,” he said.

“If I were guessing, I would guess sometime next week. But it might be sooner, it might be later. Everybody knows the clock is ticking in terms of the legislative session, so everybody feels that sense of urgency to get it resolved.”

Lawmakers are required to adjourn by May 21 but have talked about doing so in April.

Negotiators have been trying to craft a deal that would allow the Vikings to continue playing in the Dome while a new stadium is built nearby.

That would reduce the time required to play at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium, which is smaller than the Dome and not fully equipped for NFL games.

Wilf said estimates are the team would have to play at TCF for one to two years.

Vikings officials said they have a preliminary use agreement in place with the U but declined to offer details.

According to an estimate released last month, Minneapolis would contribute $150 million toward construction of a stadium near the Dome; the team would pitch in $428 million and the state $340 million.

Asked whether the state was contemplating a greater contribution, Dayton said he would not give specifics until the terms were agreed to.

Even if an agreement for a Minneapolis stadium is reached, the plan has a long way to go.

The team came to two similar “term sheet” agreements with Ramsey County officials on the Arden Hills project, but that was derailed over objections to the financing plan.

Besides legislative approval, the deal must be OK’d by the Minneapolis City Council, where Mayor R.T. Rybak and council President Barb Johnson have yet to muster a majority for their plan.

Dayton said he hadn’t talked to city council members recently and didn’t know which way they were leaning.

“They’re going to have to decide whether they can support a stadium project in Minneapolis or not,” he said.

Dayton said he was hopeful “they will realize this is a tremendous boon in terms of jobs, in terms of downtown revitalization, in terms of the future of the city, it’s a bigger picture than some of them seem to look at it now.”

Doug Belden can be reached at 651-228-5136.