Vikings To Receive $55 Million In Relocation Fees

Over the past two offseasons, three NFL teams have either pulled up stakes and relocated to another city or have declared their intention to do so. The Rams moved to Los Angeles prior to the beginning of last season, the Chargers will be joining them in the City of Angels starting this year, and the Raiders are not moving to Los Angeles, but will instead be moving to Las Vegas for the start of the 2019 season.

When teams relocate in the National Football League, they get to pay the rest of the league for the privilege, and boy. . .are they going to pay. But, that’s good for the Minnesota Vikings and the other 28 NFL teams that aren’t relocating.

(Well, specifically, it’s good for the people that own those teams.)

Darren Rovell of ESPN is reporting that each of the 29 NFL teams that are not relocating will each receive a little more than $55 million in relocation fees from the three teams that are over the next 11 years. The Raiders will pay $378 million over ten years starting the year they move to Vegas, and the Rams and Chargers will each. . .each. . .shell out $645 million for the privilege of moving to Los Angeles.

The relocation fees are commensurate with the projected increase of value that each team is expected to receive because of their moves. In the case of the Rams, according to the list from Forbes Magazine we referenced in an earlier post, the Rams saw their value increase by 100% over last season, and they’re now worth $2.2 billion, making them the 12th-most valuable team in all of professional sports.

(And they haven’t even gotten their new stadium yet.)

I don’t know if the $55 million that the Vikings will be receiving over the next 11 years will inspire the Wilf family to do something big. I’d like to think that it would, even if it was something like a minor decrease in the price of concessions at U.S. Bank Stadium or something.