Well this past weekend the Vikings advanced to the NFC Championship for just the fourth time in my life. Never have they made it passed this round while I have been alive, so if I say my expectations are tempered you could probably understand why. This upcoming weekend the Vikings play the Saints with the winner going to Miami to play against the Colts (sorry Jets, there's no way you win again this weekend). So to say I'm nervous about the game is a bit of an understatement. Given that I've been an outspoken critic of many of the personnel and coaching decisions made by the Vikings in the past few years; even to the point, that I've sworn them off a few different times, seeing them get this close again makes me forget all of their past transgressions (although how do you not get ANYTHING for Randy Moss? I'll never figure that one out). To prove that superstitions are nothing to be worried about I'm going to offer up a prediction for this weekend's Vikings score.
Ready?? Here goes...
Minnesota 34
New Orleans 20
The difference being an interception late in the game by Drew Brees. Why am I so confident that the Vikings will win this game? Because if they don't they won't be in Minnesota by the end of the 2011 season. This game isn't just about this season, its about the franchise. If the Vikings somehow end up in the Superbowl against the Colts then Zygi Wilf can make a push in the Minnesota Senate for a publicly funded stadium for the Vikings. If they lose this weekend, they lose any of that "homerish" momentum needed to get a half-billion dollar stadium paid for by people struggling to make their mortgage payments in Hennepin County and then the Vikings move to Los Angeles and play here (notice the color scheme?). There's much more on the line this weekend than a simple game, at risk is 49 years of tradition in Minnesota, at risk is disenfranchising one of the more vocal NFL markets, at risk is Ragnar wearing skinny jeans and Kanye style sunglasses rather then chaps and Wranglers, and most of all at risk is an economic engine in the heart of Minneapolis. This weekend means much more than a trip to the Super Bowl, its also a critical moment for one of the most beloved franchises in the sport along with what could be a crucial blow to the Minneapolis sports culture and economy.
My question to Zygi Wilf is: Why not just buy the surrounding buildings, renegotiate the terms of the Metrodome Lease agreement, and renovate the interior to accommodate more luxury boxes while playing the 2011 season at TCF Bank Field (which is just three miles down Washington)? Why does the State of Minnesota have to pick up the tab for a privately funded company?
So maybe if the Vikings do manage two more wins this season, then that fervent fanaticism that's sure to accompany the fanbase will translate into taking a more realistic look at what it takes to keep the Purple Curtain in Minnesota. If not, well then I'll be the first in line to get my Los Angeles Vikings of Minnesota tickets for the start of the 2012 season. But here's hoping that we never see this.
I'll answer your questions-the reason that renegotiating the terms of the metrodome lease is not in the best interest of "the big buisiness" that is the MN vikings is that they are below the league average in revenue that comes from advertising, concessions, suites, blah, blah, blah, which is something like 32+million a year. With regards to the magnitude of $ that the NFL teams throw around they are near the low end of the $ making scale-renovating the Dome does not solve this-the vikings still wouldnt get control of all the revenue they should-dome ownership would.
ReplyDeleteRecently the building comission put forth a plan that the vikings sign an extension on the dome through 2013 and then renovate at the site of the dome-zygi's group didnt even show up because the team claims that they're being forced to sign the extension...
either way recent news (jan 14th) has the team looking at other counties-Anoka has expressed interest-from the article:
"The biggest advantage any site can offer right now is a financing mechanism similar to the 0.75 percent sales tax proposed by Anoka County, or the 0.15 percent sales tax Hennepin County used to fund more than half of the Twins' new $550 million ballpark. That's a disadvantage for Minneapolis, which has a $10 million cap on tax money that can be used for a stadium, and is situated in a county already imposing a tax for the Twins' Target Field."
Sounds like Hennepin just doesn't have the $ to compete with other counties. Either way-i think the vikings are here to stay even if they lay an egg in the next game...there is no way the team leaves MN-some county will step up.
But given the state of the state fiscal budget, its going to be basically impossible to get something through funded by the state (esp. with the Twins stadium on the budget this year). No one will take the political risk to take on a bill adding half a billion to the state deficit, at least I doubt they will...Furthermore I think it'll be even more difficult to do it if say, the Vikes lose either this week or the following and then aren't able to bring back the Silver Fox for next year and they have to go out and start Sage Rosenfels, only to fall to a 7-9 record and missing the playoffs...I really think this game is do or die for them, especially given the media attention that team (specifically) has been getting out here
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