Vikings stadium talk dismissed again in Legislature

By Mike Schoemer  |   Monday, April 14, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Minnesota Vikings
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Hang on, Los Angeles. Your National Football League franchise may be just a couple years away.

Minnesota’s political leaders again dismissed talk of a new home for the Minnesota Vikings, and pushed back when team brass prodded for a new study from the state Senate.

With a governor who is currently down on any sort of capital project and a state budget that is staring at a $1 billion deficit, the window for a new Vikings stadium is slowly closing.

And Minnesota is running out of time. The franchise is nearing the end of its lease with the 35-year-old Metrodome. And with no new stadium in sight, the team might explore other options.
Now, that would go against the sentiment expressed by the Wilf family when they purchased the team from former owner Billy Joe “Red” McCombs. The Wilfs went to great lengths to express their desire to stay in Minnesota, and to bring a Super Bowl to the Twin Cities.

However, at that time the franchise had a working relationship with Anoka County. Commissioners there were willing to propose a small sales tax hike to build a new sports complex near the city of Blaine, where there is already a large recreational sports compound.

That deal fell through, however, when the Vikings reneged on a retractable roof during negotiations with the 2007 Legislature.

Now, the team has seen the University of Minnesota football team get a new 40,000-seat stadium, and a new state-of-the-art ballpark for the Minnesota Twins. All while the “Purple Pride” sentiment that swelled through the state in the late 1990s has been reduced to a simmer.

Then, throw in the perfect storm of negatives for any franchise looking to go for a new facility. The economy is sagging. A bridge that served as a vital corridor for the franchise’s two communities fell into the Mississippi River. The team has been mediocre. The list goes on.

So could the Vikings follow the Lakers and head to LA?

It surely seems like a stretch. The NFL enjoys having teams in top markets, so moving a team out of one of its top 15 markets would be a tough sell, even if it is going to the No. 2 market in the sport. Plus, the two squads that have moved out of the Minneapolis area have been reborn, and with success. The Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Wild have both been playoff-caliber teams, and both draw good crowds. Minnesota is a three-sport region.

And that’s the final push for Minnesota. The Vikings are one of the few teams named for an entire state. Plus, Viking fans can be found in both the Dakotas and northern Iowa. It’s a market that expands beyond Minneapolis-St. Paul.

The pressure will be on the 2009 Legislature to move forward with some sort of funding program for the Vikings. Otherwise, the NFL might have to start preparing. Los Angeles could be back on the table before we know it.
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About Mike Schoemer

• Currently serving as managing editor of the award-winning Monticello Times after promotion in September of 2007. • Took the helm of the Edina, Minn., community newspaper, The Edina Sun Current in September 2006 in the heart of an election year. • Promoted to the Managing Editor of the...
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