dfosterf
15 years ago
Article 

With the Gophers in their new football stadium and the Twins leaving the Metrodome this weekend, the Vikings would like your attention.

And your money.

The Vikings and the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, which owns and operates the Metrodome, are ready to ask Minnesotans for at least $700 million to subsidize a new, improved NFL stadium with a retractable roof being called Metrodome Next that will sit on the current site.

"If the answer is no," Vikings vice president for public affairs and stadium development Lester Bagley said, "then why would you own a team in this market?"



We have a new member here. He is a Vikings fan, obviously. His first post was along the lines of, "The only way you win that game is to pray."

Or something like that. He might be right, he might be wrong.

If I were that poster, I might do a little praying of my own.

Some answers are tentatively scheduled for 2 minutes from this post.

Might be more than a little interesting, and if they run things like our pressers, answers might be a tad bit later than that. :thumbleft:

I have gone on record as saying I would not be for the Vikings leaving Minnesota, but then again, I don't have to put up with them :thumbleft:

I do wonder though. On the same day that this is published...

Link 

"Minnesota people are cheap people," Holzberger said. "They are bringing the price down."




...that from a ticket broker talking about the soft market for sales in this (arguably huge) game.

Will Wilf and co. just say to hell with Minnesota and their fans?

They do put a great product out there, yet STILL do not receive the support needed.

This could be interesting.

Are Minnesota folk cheap or is all about the economy? Seems like a very broad generalization, but then again, where is the new stadium, then? I do not know.
Rockmolder
15 years ago
Vikings and Mall of America Announce Naming Right Partnership 

Eden Prairie, MN The Minnesota Vikings and Mall of America announced today a partnership for the naming rights to the field that has served as the teams home since 1982. The agreement, announced this morning from the Vikings Winter Park facility, provides that the field will be called Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome for a three-year period beginning October 5, 2009, and ending February 28, 2012.

dfosterf
15 years ago
Well, that's boring.

I wonder at what point they are going to issue the "ultimatum"?

Lease runs out when, 2010, 20111?

Florio said something about this also:

Vikings begin final push for new stadium 

Posted by Mike Florio on October 1, 2009 9:56 AM ET
With an undefeated team, the best running back in the game, a stifling defense, and a Hall of Fame quarterback who in four days will face for the first time the franchise with which he spent 16 seasons, there's no time like the present to try to get some public money for a new football stadium in Minnesota.

Or, as the case may be, a lot of public money.

And if the present effort doesn't work, there might be no future.

The Vikings will ask taxpayers for $700 million to build a new venue at the site of the current Metrodome.

The place would be called "Metrodome Next" [editor's note: lame], and it would include a retractable roof. (There's also talk of building a facility with no lid, which would restore a true home-field advantage to the team.)

Vikings exec Lester Bagley had an ominous message to those who'll be considering the request: "If the answer is no," Bagley told the St. Paul Pioneer Press, "then why would you own a team in this market?"

This can be interpreted two ways. First, without a new stadium, owner Zygi Wilf will sell the team. Second, without a new stadium, owner Zygi Wilf will move the team.

And it likely would be moved to the Los Angeles area, where Ed Roski is moving forward with a new stadium in the city of Industry.

The locals, however, don't seem ready to budge.


"Governor [Tim] Pawlenty believes the Vikings are an important Minnesota institution and asset. We want to see the Vikings stay in Minnesota," Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung told the Pioneer Press. "But the state has to prioritize limited resources, and as we look ahead to the 2010 legislative session, state funding for a new stadium is not high on the list."
Meanwhile, the other regular tenants are leaving the Metrodome. The Minnesota Twins have a new stadium that opens next season. And the Minnesota Golden Gophers already are playing in their own new open-air digs. The Vikings' lease expires after the 2011 season.
"When we get to 2010, we have 20 games left at the Metrodome, and the clock is ticking," Bagley said.

"The state can't afford us to become free agents."

The problem, as we see it, is that the Vikings have been making subtle threats about moving for more than a decade, and folks in Minnesota possibly believe it's all a bluff.

We've got a strong feeling that it isn't.

And so, just as Minneapolis lost the Lakers to L.A. all those years ago, the Vikings could be the next purple-and-gold Minnesota product to load up the truck and move to Beverly.


Cheesey
15 years ago
Well....if they don't get what they want, Ziggy will pack them up and move.
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Formo
15 years ago
To answer your question, Foster.. Yes. Minnesota people are cheap. Lester Bagley was on KFAN here in Minneapolis this morning, and him and the host, Paul Allen, were talking about this issue. My uncle and I were listening to it, and I was listening to his reactions. Although he's a Minnesota sports fan, he seems more than content on losing the Vikings if it means the state doesn't have to put in any sort of significant money.

Personally, I don't care how much the state kicks in, I want to see a deal done. I pay taxes for crap I never use (like a new theater and public library in downtown Minneapolis), so why the Hell shouldn't I be willing to pay a little bit more taxes for a stadium that I will enjoy? This past election, there was a state amendment on raising state-wide taxes a certain fraction of a percent (I think it was .02%) for something to do with Wildlife Preservation, and they projected that the first year income just from that tax amendment would be about $200 million or so. It's called the Minnesota Vikings (contrary to what Greta says.. The Minneapolis Vikings), so why can't they do something like that, with a promisory note attached that said once the new stadium was paid off, the tax would disappear? Or, I saw somewhere that Wilf was willing to put down a percentage of the total cost of a new stadium (not including a roof).. Why can't he put down a bit more? Like 50%? I mean, they DID say something like they could build a new, roofless stadium that would cost only $600 or so million. Why not that plan with a potential to build a retractable roof? (Keep in mind that the state wants a roof for multi-sport purposes)

I don't have the answers, and my 'solutions' aren't very realistic. I know this. I just want a deal done so I don't have to go through what Cleveland or Houston had to go through.. Just to get a horsecrap expansion team.
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Wade
  • Wade
  • Veteran Member
15 years ago
Let me ask people this question.

Suppose you have 700 million to invest. Would *you* invest it in a sports stadium?

And if the answer is "no", why should taxpayer dollars be used to do it?

Seriously.

If a sports stadium is such a bloody great investment, why in the world do rich people with 700 million not come forward with the funds?

Seriously.

I say all this as someone who would be sad to see the Vikings move from Minnesota. And as someone who thinks "politician makes a smart decision" an oxymoron.

But a politician who says no to such things is correct.

The best thing that happened to Chicago's economy in the last couple weeks is LOSING on the Olympic bid.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
Formo
15 years ago

Let me ask people this question.

Suppose you have 700 million to invest. Would *you* invest it in a sports stadium?

And if the answer is "no", why should taxpayer dollars be used to do it?

Seriously.

If a sports stadium is such a bloody great investment, why in the world do rich people with 700 million not come forward with the funds?

Seriously.

I say all this as someone who would be sad to see the Vikings move from Minnesota. And as someone who thinks "politician makes a smart decision" an oxymoron.

But a politician who says no to such things is correct.

The best thing that happened to Chicago's economy in the last couple weeks is LOSING on the Olympic bid.

"Wade" wrote:



You are assuming that we as the millionaires actually have the $700 million just sitting around with nothing better to be done with.

That's all fine and dandy if an owner chooses to invest his $700 million into his own stadium. Here's the catch, if that were to happen, then the state government can keep it's damn greedy paws off any sort of income made from said stadium.

Did you know that the state of Minnesota has made over $200 million in taxes just from the Vikings alone in the past 20+ years the Vikings have been in the dome? That's the same Viking team who's revenue has been deep in the lower half of all NFL teams. And the state had made over $200 million just from the taxes alone. Not including the booze tax that they charge for the building of the Humpty Dump (which, by the way, has been paid off for many years now.. Yet we still get charged that tax.. Hmmmmm..)

We have to face it.. The state will not not tax the Vikings if they fund their own stadium. The state WILL make a shitton of money due to the presence of the Vikings. Having an NFL team in a market as big as the Twin Cities is a BONUS to said metro's economy, not a burden. Helloooo.. Jobs anyone? We aren't even bringing up the influx of commerce that traveling fans/teams brings to the local economy, but it would be foolish to think that they don't have any sort of impact. Like I said.. I don't care how it's done, just figure something out. The state screwed over the Vikings and themselves by pushing stadium talks back year after year after year after year. Now, they are facing a rude fact that, yes, they WILL have to put money into a deal for them to have/keep an NFL team.

I get it.. "RICH MAN HAS MUNEYS, HE BUILDS HIS OWN HOUSE" If only it were that simple. Everyone assume's the Wilf's and their investors crap Benjys. That's not the case, and the sooner the state and it's people realize this, the sooner they'll be open to sitting down and actually being open to proposals.

I'm sorry, but I blame the state for this issue more so than the Vikings and their ownership. Yes, both need to work things out, and both need to be willing to make a deal. But from what I'm seeing, only the Vikings have been proactive on this subject for years. Has this government NOT learned from the North Stars/Wild thing? They ended up putting money down for the Xcel Center to be built... Which was the same type of thing the North Stars asked for. Just a drive through St. Paul will tell you about how good that area is and how friendly it now is.

Definition of insanity: Doing the same thing, over and over, yet expecting a different result.
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Nonstopdrivel
15 years ago
The margin on an NFL franchise is amazingly low. (Fiscally naive people see the raw numbers -- "Jerry Jones made $10 million last year!" -- but don't stop to think about what a ridiculous amount of money he had to spend to make that $10 million.) Anyone gullible enough to make an investment like that wouldn't stay wealthy long. But I agree with Wade. If it's not a worthwhile investment for a savvy businessman, why should we think it's any more fiscally responsible for the government? The fact is it's not. I applaud the state of Minnesota for having the moral courage not to pay for a new stadium, even if their actions do drip with hypocrisy after the Twins and Gophers stadiums.
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Formo
15 years ago

The margin on an NFL franchise is amazingly low. (Fiscally naive people see the raw numbers -- "Jerry Jones made $10 million last year!" -- but don't stop to think about what a ridiculous amount of money he had to spend to make that $10 million.) Anyone gullible enough to make an investment like that wouldn't stay wealthy long. But I agree with Wade. If it's not a worthwhile investment for a savvy businessman, why should we think it's any more fiscally responsible for the government? The fact is it's not. I applaud the state of Minnesota for having the moral courage not to pay for a new stadium, even if their actions do drip with hypocrisy after the Twins and Gophers stadiums.

"Nonstopdrivel" wrote:



The bolded is where we highly disagree. I can see that if the Twins didn't get a stadium. But to not put down some sort of time to make a plan with the Vikings (the biggest pro sport draw, BTW) for a stadium deal?

Bullshit. I don't care how bad the effin' economy is. Bull-effing-shit.
UserPostedImage
Thanks to TheViking88 for the sig!!
Nonstopdrivel
15 years ago
Two wrongs don't make a right, Formo. I don't think the government should be subsidizing any stadiums. Just because Jeffrey got buy with stealing a cookie doesn't mean Johnny should.
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