The Minnesota Vikings now, officially, have something in common with the 31 other teams in the National Football League. As we've heard from the recent stadium legislation, the Vikings no longer want to play any more football games at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.
Which is good, because it turns out that none of the other 31 teams want to play football games at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, either.
Lester Bagley, the Minnesota Vikings' Vice President of Public Affairs and Stadium Development, was a guest of Mike Florio's on Pro Football Talk's PFT Live today, and revealed something that hadn't been brought to light until today. When you think about it, it's a pretty amazing declaration.
"We couldn’t even get a preseason game scheduled this year," Bagley said. "We could not get a partner and the league had to step in and help us get a preseason game scheduled because of that facility. . . . [T]he facility is no longer viable and we’ve got to resolve the issue."
That's right, folks. . .the Minnesota Vikings apparently had a hell of a time getting another NFL team to agree to play a pre-season game at the Metrodome. I assume that this is one of the side effects of having the roof of the freaking stadium collapse, huh?
At the risk of sounding all melodramatic, this is why the time to get Vikings' stadium legislation passed is right now. The Vikings' lease with the Metrodome is up after the 2011 season. The Minnesota Vikings will not play at the Metrodome after the 2011 season, at least not on anything more than a temporary basis while a new stadium is being constructed. If what Bagley said in that interview isn't enough proof of that, I don't know what is.
If the Minnesota legislature is going to sit on their hands and stall and not get anything done in 2011, they're simply not going to have a chance to do it in 2012. Hopefully, everybody will figure out the value of the Vikings to Minnesota and get something done before the legislature closes up shop in six weeks.