Minnesota Vikings Stadium: U.S. Bank Set To Acquire Naming Rights?

With the new Minnesota Vikings stadium set to come online in time for the 2016 NFL season, the question has been raised about which of the many fine Minnesota-based companies will end up with the naming rights for the new facility. In today's Minneapolis Star-Tribune, word is coming down from none other than Grandpa Sports himself that the team has, apparently, made their decision.

According to Sid Hartman, a contract is being worked out with the folks from U.S. Bank to put their name on the stadium. El Sid tells us that the deal is similar to the one that was worked out between the Minnesota Twins and the people from Target, spanning 25 years and being worth anywhere from $7 to $10 million a year.

U.S. Bank has been one of many companies that had been linked to the naming rights for the new stadium, along with Target (who is apparently content with just having Target Field and the Target Center at this point) and Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo's CEO, however, came out and said that his company didn't have any interest in acquiring the naming rights.

This wouldn't be U.S. Bank's first venture into the stadium naming game, as there is a U.S. Bank Arena near the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio. But, with U.S. Bank being based in Minnesota, there's a different dynamic at play in this case.

"U.S. Bank Stadium" will take a bit of getting used to, but hey. . .it sounds a hell of a lot better than "Los Angeles Vikings," am I right, folks?