Access Vikings had something on this earlier today, and quite frankly I don't think there's anything here, but I'm going to briefly mention it here anyway.
Today on his radio program, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh had former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty as his guest. The topic eventually turned to the Vikings, and more specifically how much of the pending new Vikings' stadium Pawlenty thought should be publicly financed. Here is the exchange between the two men:
RUSH: I know you're not in the statehouse any longer, but there's an issue roiling the state right now and that's the Vikings and their new stadium and how much of it should be publicly financed. The usual threats are being made: If the public doesn't chip in and build a new stadium the Vikings are gone. They'll move to LA or someplace.
PAWLENTY: The rumor is you're gonna buy 'em and move 'em. Is that true?
RUSH: (laughing) Well, uh, this interview is about you. (laughing)
PAWLENTY: (laughing)
RUSH: I'll keep it focused on you.
PAWLENTY: (laughing) All right.
And. . .that's it.
From this, the speculation has arisen that Limbaugh might be part of a group interested in purchasing the Vikings for the purposes of moving them to Los Angeles. Yeah, I hadn't heard anything about anything like that prior to now, either.
Not that it would be entirely surprising that Limbaugh would be part of a group that would, potentially, want to purchase an NFL team. A few years ago, he was part of a group headed by Dave Checketts, the man that owns the St. Louis Blues, that was attempting to purchase the St. Louis Rams, but Limbaugh was only involved as a minority partner. Enough people managed to raise enough of a stink about Limbaugh's involvement that he was dropped from the group.
It always baffles me when people raise so much hell over someone that they view as "controversial" potentially wanting to purchase a sports team. Major League Baseball owners have been doing it to current Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban for quite a while now. Political feelings aside, I really wouldn't give a damn if Rush Limbaugh was part of a group that wanted to purchase the Minnesota Vikings. Hell, I don't care if the Wilf family sells the team to the Chinese or something, based on two conditions.
1) The new ownership is committed to winning
2) The new ownership is committed to keeping the team in Minnesota
But, to be honest, I don't think there's a lot to be seen here. Nobody knows of any group that is in line to purchase the Minnesota Vikings from the Wilf family at this time. . .with everything that has gone on with the stadium thus far, we surely would have heard something by now if such a thing existed.