Monday, February 13, 2012

Vikings to Nowhere in Particular

After a while, it gets more difficult to care about the ongoing saga of the Vikings stadium. A few things have happened in recent days that merit discussion, but we'll keep it brief.

  • Ramsey County officials came up with a new funding proposal for Arden Hills but it went nowhere, because it took away what the Vikings liked about the original plan, which was sweet, sweet parking revenue. So what do we learn? The "fan experience" business was crap. It was always about the money. It always is.
  • The Star Tribune reports this morning that legislators aren't too interested in moving the stadium up on their priority list. It's not too surprising, since the NFL essentially foreclosed the option of moving the team for this year. I do suspect that various suits in the NFL office are watching what happens during this session, though, and if they don't like what they see, the league might give Zygi Wilf et al. the green light to seek something else for 2013.

4 comments:

First Ringer said...

Months ago I was amazed that Wilf hadn't drawn a line in the sand over the stadium issue - build it here or nowhere - and instead had followed every legislative head-fake like my Chesapeake Bay Retriever when I pretend to throw a ball.

How in the world did this man build a commercial real estate empire, I wondered? Has he never negotiated for anything in his life? Did he pay full asking price for his car?

The real answer may be what you've hinted at, D - the NFL has made it clear it won't support a move in 2012, destroying any short term leverage Wilf had.

Still, I'm surprised that Wilf is seemingly willing to build a stadium (almost) anywhere. At a certain point, there's no economic benefit to the Vikings, just a new coat of make-up on the same stadium pig.

Thorley Winston said...

That’s unfortunate. The longer this gets dragged out, the greater the likelihood that a “deal” will be reached instead of our elected officials finding the courage to do the right thing and say “not just no, but hell no.”

Mr. D said...

That is a danger, Thorley.

Anonymous said...

I still think the problem isn't intransigence on both sides, but a lack of imagination that would lead to a satisfactory compromise. There is a way to get the Vikings more revenue without all the parking.

J. Ewing