Now, I don't know how much of this is hyperbole in an attempt to get something jump-started with the stadium legislation and how much of it is true. . .I'll leave that for you to decide.
On today's installment on PFT Live, the folks from Pro Football Talk interviewed Vikings VP of Public Affairs and Stadium Development Lester Bagley. Cribbing from their article about the interview, Bagley said the following:
Most significantly, Bagley said that "more than one community" has contacted the team about a possible move. Though Bagley declined to identify the communities involved, he believes that the efforts will become public if/when the lease expires.
Obviously, there’s a chance that the Vikings are bluffing — not about the fact that other communities want the team to move there, but about the Vikings’ genuine willingness to relocate.
Now, I'm trying to think of how many different places there are out there that the Vikings could readily and easily relocate to if nothing is figured out by the time the lease expires in February.
Los Angeles is the obvious one, since we've been hearing about it forever. San Antonio was rumored throughout the entire Red McCombs era, but I don't think that's realistic. There's Las Vegas, but I'm firmly of the belief that there will never, ever, ever, ever be a major professional sports team in Las Vegas. Toronto has been angling for an NFL team for a while, unless they're specifically hoping for the Buffalo Bills. You could probably even throw London in there as a long shot, if the NFL is serious about looking that direction for a possible expansion.
The truth is that if the Vikings get to February without a new stadium project figured out, there are plenty of places that would potentially take them in. Fortunately, after the Ramsey County vote saying that the stadium tax would not face a referendum, it looks like we're going to get some sort of resolution on this matter, one way or another.