Stadium thread

[OJVIKE]

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article ... yid=841503
for only $1.....should leave enough to renovate it!!!

[Demi]

oh ffs not this again! It's cost almost as much to "renovate" as it would to build a new stadium!

Here, I'll sell you my beater car for $1, interior is shot. exterior is shot. no engine or transmission but hey it's $1!!!

Those clown lawmakers need to pull their heads out of their ####!

[HornedMessiah]

Those clown lawmakers need to pull their heads out of their ####!

It's not a new stadium but at least it's something! I don't mean they should settle for it and stay in the dome, that just isn't a long-term option. Anybody who says differently obviously hasn't been to a game there. Instead, it's an enticing proposal that could keep the team in the state after their lease wears out, and will give them more time to hammer out a solution for the new digs.

And if they don't want it, I'll buy it for $1! Hell, I'll double the offer and make it $2.

[Allenfreak69]

And if they don't want it, I'll buy it for $1! Hell, I'll double the offer and make it $2.

[OJVIKE]

whats the land it rest on worth?? that would be able to cut the cost a bit.i think this would be a good move..then buy the star and tribe land surrounding it and you have a place you can work with.the star and tribe is gunna go under anyway.

[glg]

whats the land it rest on worth?? that would be able to cut the cost a bit.i think this would be a good move..then buy the star and tribe land surrounding it and you have a place you can work with.the star and tribe is gunna go under anyway.

The team will never go for it as it includes no state money for building, yet comes with the string of a 20 year contract. It's completely moronic.

[CalVike]

http://www.finance-commerce.com/article ... ter-Bagley
Here's a recent interview with Lester Bagley about what the team wants in terms of a public subsidy.

The stadium remains a tough sell. While construction costs and interest rates are down, the total price tag is $650 million for a 64,000-seat, open-air facility, $870 million for one with a retractable roof. Bagley says that making a stadium happen would require funding from the state of $29 to $42 million a year over 30 years, with the final tab depending on whether there’s a retractable roof or not.

Q: What’s the total price tag as it stands today? What are the Wilfs and the team willing to chip in, and what’s the gap to be closed there?
A: The way we should look at it is, the Viking contribution should be calculated on what one-third of an NFL stadium should cost: $216 million. So, back that out from an open-air stadium or from a retractable roof stadium. What you’re looking at is a gap of $430 to $650 [million].

The $1 idea is a non-factor. The team wants $430M to $650M public subsidy depending whether the state decides they want a retractable roof, which ownership is claiming is not needed so they should not have to pay for it. What I wonder is how many communities/states have subsidized an 8- to 11-game stadium for a pro football team at that level.

[CalVike]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-nfl ... 9988.story
Article in LA Times on LA Stadium. Basically says nothing imminent, Chargers most likely to move there, labor issues slow down the NFL's concern for a LA team, but Vikings on list of teams that may be coaxed there.

[CalVike]

http://www.twincities.com/ci_14466784?nclick_check=1
The team has hired influential lobbyists. At this point, it appears to me they are hired to lobby the general notion the Vikings need a stadium in the absence of a plan from any locale, the state, or the team.

[OJVIKE]

http://football.ballparks.com/NFL/Minne ... windex.htm
i found the attendance log kinda interesting.

[OJVIKE]

look at the parking around it...that was beautiful.

[OJVIKE]

http://sites.google.com/site/minnesotamomentum/home
jion and help make it happen...couldnt hurt.

[dead_poet]

Vikes struggle for traction on stadium issue

A few of you have asked if there has been any progress for Minnesota's latest stadium proposal during the current session of the state legislature. The answer is pretty much "no."

The Vikings say they've made progress behind the scenes, but a lobbyist for the team's Metrodome landlord painted a dim picture of the chances a bill would make it to the floor in 2010.

During a meeting Thursday of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, lobbyist Bill McGrann said the stadium issue isn't likely to be considered until the end of next month. The session is scheduled to end May 17 but is more likely to adjourn early, according to this Star Tribune report.

As a result, McGrann said during the meeting: "The chances are getting slimmer by the day that there will be any sort of consideration of the Vikings/stadium/commission issue."

Vikings vice president Lester Bagley said the team is still hoping for serious consideration before the legislature wraps up for the spring. But at this point, substantive discussion appears imminent.

The Vikings' Metrodome lease expires after the 2011 season. Owner Zygi Wilf has declined to sign an extension. I've maintained all along that this issue will reach crisis proportions before it is dealt with in a meaningful way, and I have no reason to change that stance now.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_ ... dium-issue

[HardcoreVikesFan]

Vikes struggle for traction on stadium issue
http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_ ... dium-issue

IF this ever gets done it will be a last minute type of deal, which sucks because it just puts the fans even further on edge.

[DavidKarki]

If this ever gets done it will be a last minute type of deal, which sucks because it just puts the fans even further on edge.

Which is a reckless, irresponsible and dangerous game of chicken to play, and MN has mostly lost playing it in the past.

The Lakers and North Stars were lost this way. Had the T-Wolves not been sold to crooked boxing interests which allowed NBA Commissioner David Stern to void the sale, they'd have been in New Orleans in the mid-1990s. And the Twins would have been lost that way if they had had anywhere else to go...(or MLB had a commissioner with a spine who'd have forced the contraction of them and the Expos/Nationals through).

So, consider Minnesota 0-2-2 in games of Facility Upgrade or Lost Franchise Chicken. And Game 5 will dwarf all of the previous four combined in magnitude, as well as be against the toughest opponent who will not dither or hesitate at all to do what is necessary the moment they conclude they must.

Even if MN caves, the sums of MN taxpayer money they will have wasted and the stadium features they will have forgone due to their selfish and small-minded procrastination are staggering to contemplate. If they were going to do Gophers/Twins/Vikings stadiums anyway, they'd have been far better served to do it a decade ago and get two retractable roofed buildings for less than what an open-air Vikings stadium will ultimately cost...if it's done at all.

And seeing as the Twins got a $375 M public subsidy for their almost $600 M stadium, I daresay that any funding ratio that skews much more heavily toward the Vikings and away from the public than that template could well be taken (and reasonably so) as an insult. Yes, the Twins have 81 home games, but with a roof, the Vikings' stadium could be used the same 300+ days a year the Dome is (all but 8-11 of which would be non-Vikings games events), and host an NCAA Final Four.

Minnesota seems determined to see if they can do the same thing to the Vikings that Cleveland did to the Browns – ignore them, insult then, and turn them into the Baltimore Ravens. I only hope that Zygi doesn't get undeservedly lumped in with Art Modell and held in low regard, after all he's spent and all the effort he's put in, only to have every door slammed in his face....he's NOT the bad guy here.