INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indianapolis Colts and city officials have agreed on a lease for a new retractable-roof stadium, meaning a major hurdle blocking construction has been cleared, RTV6's Norman Cox reported Tuesday.

---

Slideshow: Proposed Colts Stadium

---

However, the deal doesn't put a $3 tax on game tickets as some state legislators wanted. The tax still is a point of negotiation over a development agreement between the Colts and the state-controlled stadium authority, and the Colts have said they would walk away from those talks if the state insists on the tax, Cox reported.

Legislators have wanted to impose the tax to make game attendees shoulder some of the construction costs. The tax was one of the sticking points that forced lease negotiations to go through August, well past the initial target date for groundbreaking.

Colts owner Jim Irsay agreed to the 85-page lease deal Tuesday, and the city's Capital Improvement Board approved it unanimously late in the afternoon, Cox reported.

The lease would keep the Colts in Indianapolis for 30 years and require it to pay rent of $250,000 yearly.

The Colts would keep all team-related football revenue and a portion of non-Colts revenue at the stadium, including revenue from events like tractor pulls and the Circle City Classic.

Unlike the last lease the Colts signed for its current home, the RCA Dome, the new deal will not require the city to compensate the team if it falls short of any NFL income ranking, Cox reported.

The Colts have hoped that the new, 63,000-seat stadium will be open for the start of the 2008 NFL season.

Earlier this year, state, team and Indianapolis officials hoped to break ground on the project Aug. 1. That date was moved back because a lease deal was not made in time.