It has come to my attention that certain members of our writing staff that have done a metric assload of research on the potential benefits of a Vikings' stadium are receiving complaints (or have received complaints) to the effect that they need to be more "unbiased" when it comes to their slant on a new stadium as expressed on this site. So, as a result of this, I thought I would take a moment to clarify this site's position on a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings.
Here is that position:
We want a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings, and we want it sooner rather than later.
Wow. . .that was easier than I thought it would be.
Would it be possible for us to remain "neutral" on this matter? I'm sure we probably could be neutral, if we chose to. We simply choose not to be. Quite frankly. . .why should we?
The five of us that comprise the main group of writers for this site have been Viking fans for a very long time. . .decades upon decades of Sunday afternoons spent cheering for the Vikings regardless of the situation. And hell, that's just Ted. . .throw in the rest of us, and the number of years might even break the century mark.
(Ted's going to wish physical harm upon me for that. If I don't post for a while after today, you'll know why.)
That's the key. . .we are, first and foremost, Vikings fans, just like all of you. How many of you folks out there are "neutral" about whether you'd like a new stadium for the Vikings or not? Judging from the comments that a lot of the stadium-related stories have brought, it's not very many. You either want the stadium or you don't. We just happen to want the stadium. A lot.
Is it wrong of us to use our position near the top of the Minnesota Vikings' portion of the interwebs to attempt to advance this position? I don't think so, to be honest. As I've said on more than one occasion, at least we're clear about our bias on this matter. There are entities that are much larger than we are that, while claiming to be neutral on the matter. . .*coughcough*Star-Tribune*coughcough*. . .have proven to be anything but. I would rather that you folks knew our position on things coming into the whole deal than us trying to snow you with a claim of "neutrality." The Daily Norseman claiming to be neutral on this matter, much like the claims of neutrality that other media outlets make, would be insulting to your intelligence. . .much like their claims are.
We've already gone over how many jobs the construction of the stadium would bring to the state, how many jobs it would bring to the state after it was built, what the chance to host a Super Bowl could potentially mean to the Twin Cities area, and lots of other things. If you want to check out all of the stuff that we've done about the stadium, check out our "Minnesota Vikings Stadium" section of the site. It's all laid out there for you.
So, to conclude, this site is firmly in the corner of the pro-stadium folks on this one. We will remain in that corner until such time that a new Viking stadium is built, or such time that Minnesota decides that they don't want the Vikings after all and lets them move away. . .after which this site will be solely dedicated to screaming "WE TOLD YOU SO" until such time that SB Nation pulls the plug on it and starts a new site dedicated to the new NFL team in (insert non-Minnesota geographic location here).
There you have it. That's our position on the Vikings' potential new stadium. Hopefully, this clarifies things for everyone.