A Major League Soccer stadium planned for St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood remains in standby mode, waiting on key tax exemptions that may not come this year.

But that hasn’t stopped fans and critics from asking the tough questions.

When Minnesota United played a friendly exhibition match against Club Leon of Mexico, more than 18,000 fans filled the seats last weekend at Target Field in Minneapolis. Related Articles Houston Dynamo scores twice in 2nd half to tie Minnesota United

Minnesota United acquires striker Kei Kamara in trade with Colorado

New Loons star Emanuel Reynoso brings his lifelong ‘fight’ to fresh start in Minnesota

Loons acquire backup goalkeeper Adrian Zendejas from Nashville

Minnesota United’s injury list won’t shrink much in near future

The soccer match-up could be a sign of things to come for members of the Dark Clouds and True North Elite, two supporters groups who hope to bring the same energy to a future Major League Soccer stadium off Snelling and University avenues in St. Paul.

To open in 2018 as proposed, construction of the $150 million, 21,500-seat expandable stadium once was expected to have started by June. That hasn’t happened, and the team has been relatively quiet on all things stadium-related.

It’s unclear how much longer construction could be delayed and still open by the 2018 season.

The legislation providing the stadium with a key property-tax exemption has been held up by political wrangling between the Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton, who are at an impasse over a tax bill. The governor could yet call a special legislative session this season, but that’s a major maybe.

The stadium, which would be privately funded, would be built on vacant land leased from the Metropolitan Council by the city of St. Paul using rent paid by the team. While fan enthusiasm is high, the stadium’s proximity to residential areas and congested traffic corridors like Snelling Avenue and Ayd Mill Road has drawn opposition from nearby homeowners.

Meanwhile, comments on the city’s environmental review of the 35-acre site are due to the city by 4 p.m. July 6. The site includes the future stadium, the Midway Shopping Center strip mall and vacant land owned by the mall owner, RK Midway.

Here’s a look at key questions surrounding the future home of Minnesota United.

Q: What happens if there is no special legislative session and the stadium’s property tax exemption does not get signed into law this year?

It’s unlikely team owner Bill McGuire will move forward with construction without an estimated $3 million in annual property tax exemptions in place, but that doesn’t necessarily stop the team from joining Major League Soccer and playing at a different venue as it waits.

Major League Soccer prefers to add two teams to the league at a time, and both Minnesota and Atlanta are still on tap for 2017. McGuire has always expected that United will play in a different venue than the team’s current home in Blaine or a new stadium in St. Paul for its first MLS season in 2017 — probably TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota. It’s entirely possible the team could do so again in 2018 while the stadium’s proposed tax exemptions are sorted out.

With 2017 sports schedules already being penned, it’s likely that an announcement about Minnesota United’s fate will be made by the end of July. Meanwhile, the team is beefing up its roster, and players are treating every game as an audition for the big league.

Q: How many folks would show up for games in the Midway, anyway?

Minnesota United routinely draws upward of 8,000 spectators to rented stadium space at the National Sports Center in Blaine. The team plays in the North American Soccer League, a second-tier league, but hopes to upgrade to Major League Soccer in 2017.

And Major League Soccer attendance — averaged across 20 teams — was more than 21,500 fans per game in 2015, with wide variation. The Seattle Sounders drew the league record of 44,000 fans per game, and the Colorado Rapids rounded out the bottom of the list at 15,657 fans.

On June 25, some 18,505 fans attended the international, friendly match-up at Target Field between Minnesota United and Club Leon. Minnesota United and stadium architect Populous have announced plans for a St. Paul stadium with 21,500 seats, expandable to 25,000 seats.

Q: How many games are we talking about?

About 25 Minnesota United games, plus another 10 events such as local tournaments, spread across eight months. The Major League Soccer season runs March 6 to October 23 this year, so it’s a long season. Roughly 60 percent of games will be played on Saturday evenings.

Q: Can we expect drumming and parading from Midway venues to the future stadium, as well as continuous chanting throughout the match?

Probably. No one is promising that 21,500 or more fans will be quiet. However, stadium designs call for a glass-like polymer mesh oval exterior with an overhang partially covering the field, all of which will help soften but not entirely negate the noise.

The stadium will be oriented north-south, so fans behind the northern goal will be cheering in the direction of Interstate 94, and fans behind the southern goal will be cheering toward University Avenue in the distance. A supporters’ section that allows standing room for up to 3,000 fans will be located behind the southern goal.

Q: City planners want innovative, above-ground storm-water features on the stadium site. What’s the likelihood of that happening?

The St. Paul Department of Planning and Economic Development is interested in using storm water to create water elements such as streams or irrigation systems at the former Ford Plant in Highland Park and other major development sites, but the idea has not caught McGuire’s fancy for the Midway location.

Speaking at a hearing before the St. Paul Planning Commission in early June, the team owner said an above-ground storm-water installation would be expensive and would take the place of green space that might be better suited to tossing around a Frisbee. He envisions the stadium will be ringed by three grassy plazas, and the master plan calls for a fourth park or green space along University Avenue.

McGuire said he has some experience with the subject. His family opened Gold Medal Park in downtown Minneapolis and funded its management for roughly a decade.

City officials are likely to press back on the issue, in part because the public is funding much of the necessary storm-water improvements. The city is contributing $18.4 million for public infrastructure around the stadium, which sits on the southern end of the 35-acre “Super Block” off University and Snelling avenues. That figure includes $3 million for storm sewers.

Q: Will the city complete bike and pedestrian improvements to Pascal Street and an extension of Shields Avenue regardless of whether a stadium tax exemption is approved this year?

Without a stadium, the redevelopment of the Midway Shopping Center remains in doubt, and surrounding infrastructure improvements become less and less likely.

Q: Will the Port Authority, Met Council and funding partners still move forward with readying the property for development?

Nothing will happen until the city council approves the soccer stadium site plan in August or September, at the earliest. Cleanup could still move forward after that even if a soccer stadium doesn’t, but it probably won’t immediately. There’s no huge rush from a legal perspective.

Monte Hilleman, a vice president of real estate development for the Port Authority, said most cleanup grants require work to be substantially complete within three years, and some allow extensions.

Metro Transit has committed up to $4.5 million toward environmental cleanup of the vacant land that once housed its bus maintenance and storage facility.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development has awarded $1.5 million, and the Port Authority has applied for $500,000 in cleanup cash from the Ramsey County Environmental Response Fund.

On July 13, the Metropolitan Council is scheduled to vote on a $1.25 million brownfield cleanup grant to help the Port Authority eliminate the pollution on both the soccer stadium site and the vacant adjoining land RK Midway owns. A master development plan foresees some of that land eventually housing a hotel and office space. The three-year Livable Communities Act Tax Base Revitalization Account grant can be extended for an additional two years if progress is made.

Q: Any new word on how parking and shuttle services might be managed at the stadium site?

No. Planners with the St. Paul Planning and Economic Development Department have emphasized that a parking-management plan would be in place by the first kickoff, and shuttles and public transit are envisioned as major ways to access the site. Private shuttle companies have a long history of getting fans to sporting events in the Twin Cities, but the team has released no specifics.

Pointing to the experience of other professional stadiums in the area, residents continue to question study predictions that up to 45 percent of fans will drive to park-and-ride shuttle lots in the area, and up to 45 percent will use light rail, walk, bike or bus to games. City and team officials are talking to a series of private lot owners who operate 3,400 parking spots within 3/4 of a mile of the future stadium site.

Q: When does the Rainbow grocery close?

To build the stadium, the Rainbow Foods grocery will have to relocate. It’s owned by the company that runs Cub Foods, which operates a store about a block away. The likelihood that it will reopen somewhere else within the shopping center is slim, but it’s also unlikely that RK Midway will want to drop its anchor tenant without assurances that the stadium is a go.