What a surprise. . .a team has to play one of its "home" games 700 miles away and another one at a college stadium that is unable to sell alcohol, and they lose money. Go figure.
According to the National Football Post, the Minnesota Vikings had significantly less revenue come in during the 2010 season than they did in 2009, which simply re-emphasizes the fact that the team needs a new stadium.
(Well, then, I suppose it's a good thing they're going to get one.)
In 2009, according to the Post article, the Vikings had $57.5 million in ticket revenue. Some of that came from having a playoff game mixed in there as well, but even without the money from the playoff game, the Vikings still cleared $50 million in ticket revenue.
In 2010, thanks to the circumstances mentioned above, the Vikings' ticket revenues dropped to $41.4 million. So, just in ticket revenue, the Vikings lost about $9 million because of the relocation of those two December games, not to mention what they would have lost in any other form of revenue that's directly connected to having a game at the Metrodome.
I'm not sure what the other NFL teams made as far as ticket revenue and so forth, but I'd be willing to wager that it's significantly more than the Vikings made in 2010. . .or in 2009, for that matter. The Vikings' new stadium will definitely level that playing field, to be sure.