Vikings Ownership Mentions 'Los Angeles' For The First Time. Or, How We've Gotten To This Point, A Stadium Retrospective

Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to see the Vikes leave by any means, but the people have to understand there is a price to ownership. If they aren’t willing to pay it then someone else surely will be.

You have both endeared yourself to me and depressed me. Yes, there is an element of the long-term involved in looking at the costs involved for the state of Minnesota if they build a stadium and if they do not, but if the Vikings pulled out of Minnesota the way the NorthStars did, there would be an immediate financial impact that even the most brain dead politician would have to explain to constituents—that would be pretty freaking instant. If the politicians would wise up to the fact that keeping the Vikings in Minnesota means keeping jobs in Minnesota, I think we would see more movement on the stadium proposal. If the Vikings organization and stadium supporters were smart, they would pound the jobs angle.

Seriously people what the hell were you thinking?

And I’m sure he’s never spent more than a second or two wondering what might have been if he were still in Cleveland. The Browns are averaging five wins per season since returning while the Ravens average 9 wins per season in the same stretch.

I hope the Vikings don’t move either, although as a resident of Virginia, it wouldn’t hit me as hard as home-staters. But the Vikings just fit up north.

Hopefully something can be done. It’s not like politicians can say you can’t spend money you don’t have. Ever heard of the national debt? Zygi would be smart to weigh all options of course. Could be a leverage point for his interests in Minnesota, and the pols won’t want to face voters with the specter of running the Vikings out of town over their head. It’s hard to see them moving imo.

When you spend multi-millions of dollars to be a fan, you get Daniel Snyder.

I work in the trades..any plan that is Metro Dome size or bigger has been scoped would provide 300,000 jobs alone not counting the manufacturing sourcing and so forth so you take that in a down turn economy and its pretty simple 300,000 workers in one area getting paid means someone is able to spend money abck into the economy. Its in the details of the lives of how the money earned goes back into the economy. In small details 300,000 workers out of that there would be a a good percentage driving to work: They gotta buy gas. cant say for sure buit someone out of 300,000 people is going to need car repairs. ummm if they have a wife kids ahhh now maybe lil johnny who wants to play hockey or sally that wanst dance lessons. Dad or mom now can send them. ahh they buy groceries ..now maybe they can afford that new carpet that new deck.
these are small simple examples of what drives an economy. As of this month 2 million people will lose all unemployment checks and Washington has said they will not be extending the benefits. Sometimes its the little details that help paint the bigger picture. I will prolly never open my pay check and say WTF!!!! I wish we never would have built that dam stadium. But i prolly will say my quality of life is better when Im able to look at a loved one after sharing a a wonderful day at a game. Or when I see how sports and the arts amplifies a community and its embodyment. Dont forget how much many of these players contribute to local causes through donations and support. Its a win win. The old anolgy of you plant the apple I weave the baskets you put them in someone gets them to the store so forth so forth. Im not sure how to please everyone on how to get the monies to do so but it takes money to make money. Some reason its all fine and dandy if your an Indian and have indian land you can run a billion dollar money making casino. :)

I’m not going to attack you, man. I know a lot of people see those big numbers and freak right out, and think, ‘Why should I help the rich guys get richer?’. But if you take the time to look at the whole picture, and do the math, it’s a lot more palatable.

An NFL franchise brings face-time and brand recognition to the city/state that it’s located in. With the huge viewership that the NFL commands across multiple networks, that’s a lot of indirect state marketing.

Who in the USA would have heard of a little town like Green Bay if it weren’t for the Packers? How much product recognition does it buy for the Wisconsin cheese industry because of the ‘Cheese-Head’ moniker? Do you honestly think any of that is accidental?

How many people does it take to build a modern stadium complex? I bet it’s more than a couple hundred. The key word being ‘modern’, there’s a whole raft of mandatory training programs that would have to be implemented, giving the Minnesota construction contractors state-of-the-art experience AND resume, which gives them moxie when advertising their businesses in and outside of Minnesota.

The money coming out of taxpayer’s pockets is neglible. Minnesota is one of the wealthiest states (per capita) in the union, with the average household income of $57,318 (in 2008). A 30 year bond for $650,000,000 works out to about $25/household per year to pay for a modern, state-of-the-art stadium complex with all the high-end luxury boxes the Vikings can handle, plus a smaller adjacent arena, plus comcommitent business and residential towers built around stadium with conference centers in them.

The Vikings would use this facility for a grand total of MAYBE 20 days out of 365. That leaves 345 days that the state of Minnesota can use the facility for hosting international events (Olympics perhaps), national and regional events, conferences, you name it. If the building is iconic (reference: Arizona snake-dome) and easily recognizable, it becomes a centerpiece for the entire city, for civic events, a business hub, something that people all over the country (if not the world) look at and immediately think, “Minnesota” when they see it.

I’m not a marketer, BSM, so I can’t give you figures on what all the above translates to, in terms of dollar figures, but I’d guess it’s probably worth a lot more than $650,000,000 over 30 years.

And in case you’d like to check my math for yourself;

1. of Housholds in Minnesota – 1,895,127
   Average Household income – $57,318
   Minnesota’s share of stadium cost – $650,000,000
   Years the cost is spread across – 30
   Source of data – http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/27000.html

Result – Total cost per household/year – $11.44

Conclusion – Do this thing. Do it now. Get it done.

savethevikes.org claims $30-35 million a year

This faceboook site, called ‘support jobs and a new Minnesota Vikings stadium’ claims $32 million/yr in tax revenue generated.

Okay, granted, these are obviously pro-stadium groups. So I tried to find a neutral party, which I think I found in Jay Weiner of minnpost.com. He says $20 million in taxes, and another $13 million in income and sales taxes. Add those up and it’s at $33 million.

So can we agree that the amount of tax revenue produced by the Vikings hovers around $30 million/yr, give or take? We can? Wonderful!!

The state is being asked by the Vikings to pony up about 65% of the cost, which is $520 million for an $800 million stadium, which is the most recent number I’ve seen. If a stadium is built, the VIkings will sign another 40 year lease. 40 years, at $30 million a year (and that’s not adjusted for inflation) is $1.2 billion dollars in tax revenue that Minnesota Vikings will bring in to the state over the life of the lease.

So just on tax revenue alone, the state of Minnesota will double their investment of $500 million dollars, and that’s not even counting the amount of tax income genreated in merchandise sales, folks traveling in from out of state and ‘making a weekend of it’ in the Cities and dropping that extra discretionary income for hotels, rental cars, restaurants, etc.

That’s $30 million a year that if the state loses they will have to find some way to make up, because let’s face it, there isn’t a government entity anywhere that ever reduces spending. Yeah, we hear about how they’re really going to this time, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

If you live in Minnesota, the state will add some sort of tax somewhere to make up for that revenue shortfall, and the Vikings will still be gone. Pretty crappy deal if you ask me.