Minnesota Vikings Stadium: Wilfs Add More Money To Contribution

The price tag for the new Minnesota Vikings' stadium keeps going up and, as promised, the Wilf family has been footing the bill. Most of the price increases have had to do with the addition of amenities to the new stadium and enhancing the game day experience, and this recent expenditure is no different.

The Wilf family is contributing another $14 million to the stadium effort. The majority of that money is going to go towards financing the television system inside the stadium, allowing over 2,000 HD monitors to be placed throughout. The rest of the money is going to go towards signage, lighting, and utility enhancements. With this $14 million contribution, the private commitment to the stadium now stands at $556 million. The public contribution remains at $498 million, as it has all along.

The stadium is already attracting a lot of attention from big event planners. We all know that the stadium will host Super Bowl LII in 2018, and it will also host the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four. In addition, a bid has been submitted for the stadium to host the NCAA Football Championship Game in 2020, and there's word going around that the stadium is very much in the running to host Wrestlemania 33 in March or April of 2017.

All of those events should prove to be big economic boons for the Twin Cities area. . .something that anti-stadium folks never really seem(ed) to be interested in talking about. . .and they wouldn't be possible without the state-of-the-art facility that will soon be standing on the site of the Metrodome. The stadium is over halfway to completion, and is still on pace to be ready for the opening of the 2016 NFL season.

As always, we'd like to take an opportunity to laugh at all of the people that made jokes about the "Los Angeles Vikings" over the years, and remind them that the only thing more worthless than "Los Angeles Vikings" jokes are the people that make "Los Angeles Vikings" jokes and actively cheer for a fan base to lose their team. If you're offended by that statement, you're probably who it refers to.