Vikings very close to getting a stadium deal.

[Rice18]

SOURCE: St. Paul Pioneer Press

By Dave Orrick
[email protected]
Updated: 05/06/2011 06:07:30 PM CDT

The Minnesota Vikings are "very, very close" to reaching an agreement with Ramsey County to build a stadium in Arden Hills, a Ramsey County commissioner involved in negotiations told the Pioneer Press on Thursday.

Also Thursday, Hennepin County Board Chairman Mike Opat abandoned his pursuit of a stadium at the site of the Minneapolis Farmers Market, according to a letter he sent to Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton.

With backers of a new stadium on the site of the Metrodome scrambling to put together a financing proposal as the Legislature's session approaches a May 23 adjournment, the developments appear to make the notion of the east metro landing the team — originally presumed to be a long shot — a real possibility.

Their hope appears to be getting a thumbs-up from Dayton and key lawmakers that the state can pay for at least some of the needed transportation improvements.

"We are very, very close to coming to a full proposal with the Vikings," said Ramsey County Commissioner Rafael Ortega, one of two commissioners who have been in talks with the team for months. "We have a few i's to dot and t's to cross. The big nut to crack, so to speak, is the transportation issue."

 

[DJT]

Good stuff. Wonder what it'll look like.

 

[Mooche]

I go down there every year for a game, basically, so I hope this stadium gets done in a good way.

The Metrodome was flat trash. The concourses bleeewwww

 

[Rice18]

I go down there every year for a game, basically, so I hope this stadium gets done in a good way.

The Metrodome was flat trash. The concourses bleeewwww

Amen

 

[kam.]

They better hope it gets done, or else they'll be in LA.

 

[Rice18]

They better hope it gets done, or else they'll be in LA.

Get used to liking the LA Jags.

 

[.infamous]

Get used to liking the LA Jags.

smh. Games Overall Attendance Average Attendance
Jacksonville 8 504,262 63,032
Minnesota 8 470,009 58,751

Yeah they are going to LA. smh. San Francisco, Chargers, Oakland, and the Bills are going to be one of the teams that goes to LA if it happens.

 

[Rice18]

Also look at stadium size. David the Vikings have sold out for about the past 50 years straight.

 

[kam.]

Lets look at the facts.

Jaguars aren't moving to LA.
http://jacksonville.com/business/2009-09-05/story/weavers_know_economy_has_crimped_jaguars_ticket_sales

Wayne Weaver says its gonna take 10-15 years to build the fanbase. He thinks this could be a type of team/fanbase like Green Bay has in a decade or so.

Jaguars get a Stadium sponsor through 2014, a team will be in LA by then.
http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=531536

Jaguars sold out every home game last year, and have a 96% renewal rate this year. We was at 72% before the draft. Nobody likes Garrard and hes one of the main reasons why nobody has came to the games. Everybody in Jacksonville knows hes not exciting and hes garbage.

Also, the last fact.

No NFL Team has ever left or relocated due to fan support or ticket sales. It's always been Stadium issues that has lead to teams relocating.

Teams who are having stadium problems?

Chargers, Vikings.

 

[Mooche]

I don't really see the whole LA movement at this point in time. The Jaguars may have been a tad bit rough, and yeah, there is no denying those black tarps over sections of seats. I've seen it in primetime vs. my Colts a few times, I know that.. But I think the Jags will be fine. As well, all signs point to the Vikings getting a nice stadium deal done and being able to stay put in Minneapolis for some more time.

 

[elcheato]

Lets look at the facts.

Jaguars aren't moving to LA.
http://jacksonville.com/business/2009-09-05/story/weavers_know_economy_has_crimped_jaguars_ticket_sales

Wayne Weaver says its gonna take 10-15 years to build the fanbase. He thinks this could be a type of team/fanbase like Green Bay has in a decade or so.

Jaguars get a Stadium sponsor through 2014, a team will be in LA by then.
http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=531536

Jaguars sold out every home game last year, and have a 96% renewal rate this year. We was at 72% before the draft. Nobody likes Garrard and hes one of the main reasons why nobody has came to the games. Everybody in Jacksonville knows hes not exciting and hes garbage.

Also, the last fact.

No NFL Team has ever left or relocated due to fan support or ticket sales. It's always been Stadium issues that has lead to teams relocating.

Teams who are having stadium problems?

Chargers, Vikings.

I do agree that the Jags won't go to LA, but I really hope you don't believe that the Jags fan base will ever come close to the Packers..

 

[Mooche]

I do agree that the Jags won't go to LA, but I really hope you don't believe that the Jags fan base will ever come close to the Packers..

I missed that point. Lmao. Thank you..

That will never happen.

Jacksonville is in Florida, let's think of the surrounding sport teams, and attractions. Green Bay, Wisconsin isn't exactly bustling with other things to do and activities. It's essentially the Nebraska Cornhuskers base but in the NFL.

 

[kam.]

I do agree that the Jags won't go to LA, but I really hope you don't believe that the Jags fan base will ever come close to the Packers..

I never said it, Wayne Weaver has said it numerous of times.

Hes saying by a Small Market team, who's city backs the team to the fullest.


Also, Yeah, the Jags have black tarps, but have had them since like 2001, nothing new.

 

[Mooche]

I never said it, Wayne Weaver has said it numerous of times.

Hes saying by a Small Market team, who's city backs the team to the fullest.


Also, Yeah, the Jags have black tarps, but have had them since like 2001, nothing new.

But it also kind hide problems, too.

 

[kam.]

But it also kind hide problems, too.

It doesn't hide any problem.

Everbank Stadium used to be the old Gator Bowl before the Jags got here. Its purpose was filling up college football games. Alot of the fans in town are Bucs/Dolphins fans due to them being older and the Jags being a new franchise.

They don't attend the Jag Games.

We tarp off about 4,000 season and leave the max at 60,000. Which sits more still than some stadiums in the NFL.

Simple, its too big of a stadium for a small market team as jacksonville.

 

[.infamous]

Edging closer and closer to LA.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/05/16/vikings-stadium-foes-may-have-found-a-key-loophole/

With the Minnesota Legislature only one week away from ending its 2011 session and with the current proposal hinging on a local contribution to the project raised without a public vote that surely would fail, opponents of the stadium believe they’ve found a way to avoid the effort to avoid a vote.

Heron Marquez Estrada of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that a new group of stadium foes, NoVikingsTax.com, believes that the “charter” nature of Minneapolis and Ramsey County permits a referendum on any local efforts to raise money via raise taxes to be placed onto a public ballot, if at least 10 percent of all registered voters sign a petition to that effect.

“We could usurp their usurpation,” said Chris David, head of the group.

It’s the kind of issue that seems destined for litigation, which could serve only to slow the project down even more.

Either way, the folks in Minnesota need to make a decision, and they need to make it soon. If they want to keep the Vikings, they need to find a way to build a stadium with a fair and appropriate public contribution to a venue that will benefit the public in various ways, including hosting a Super Bowl and other projects that will generate tax revenue and business activity. If they don’t want to keep the Vikings, then they need to do the same thing they’ve done for the last decade or longer — nothing.