Posted on 05/14/2012 6:09:27 AM PDT by AmonAmarth
Whoa, that was a close one.
Leave it to some penny pinching Minnesotans to make a couple of billionaires sweat it out. If Zygi and Mark Wilf had known it was going to be this hard to get a new stadium built in Minneapolis, they might have gone looking for some other taxpayer-funded trough to guzzle at.
They're going to get their new stadium, though, and what a place it should be. A billion-dollar palace downtown, smack on the same spot the Vikings play today, and loaded with the kind of amenities that make owning an NFL team so much fun.
The best part of it is they'll get it for next to nothing.
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Too bad someone in the legislature didn’t stick in an amendment that would require the Vikings to win a minimum number of games each season or have to pay back the money to the taxpayers. Look at the Twins in their new stadium with the worst record in baseball and lots of empty seats in that fancy ballpark as a result.
The fact that its even being considered in our current economic situation explains our economic situation perfectly.
We’re a zero restraint population with a zero restraint government.
Bread and circuses...
Yeah, welcome to our world. We people in Cleveland got the royal shaft with the Browns a few years ago:
1. Art Model pouted because we wouldn’t build him a new stadium.
2. We built one for the Indians, which thoroughly pissed him off.
3. He already had architect plans to dome the old stadium, but he pouted that he wanted a new one.
4. He broke a legal lease with the cooperation of a corrupt city government.
5. He ripped his team away from probably the best and strongest fan base in sports.
6. The NFL made the city build a new stadium or they would not give us a team.
7. No, we couldn’t dome the stadium.
8. Therefore, we couldn’t use it for more than home games for football and could not use it for anything else because of the lack of a dome.
9. Our franchise was pulled to Baltimore where it (our franchise) won a bunch of playoff games and a couple Super Bowls (our franchise).
10. We got stuck with crap coaches, crap players, and an undomed stadium.
11. Forgot to mention . . . it was paid with “sin tax” on smokers, etc. Can we smoke in the stadium. No.
12. NFL has given Cleveland a big fat “screw you” to the entire city.
Too bad, Minnesota. We feel your pain.
I think the NFL makes far more money from not having a team in Los Angeles than they would if they had one there. If they moved a team there they would get one stadium built at taxpayer expense. Without any teams there and the overhanging threat to move, the owners can get every team a new stadium. Threatening to move a team to Portland, Oregon just doesn't get the politicians to open up the taxpayers' wallets like a threat to move to LA.
I watched the HHH Metrodome being built in the early eighties as I went to church every Sunday across the street from the dome. I remember thinking that it would be the hom for Vikings for at least 50 years. It was built for $65 million dollars on time and under budget
Throughout recorded history, austerity has been defeated by the citizenry almost every time. The only exception that I can recall is WWII.
Our nation has been seduced by entitlement programs...we're screwed.
Frankly, I don’t blame the owners for this. They are just taking advantage of a situation the POLITICIANS have created.
As Pittsburgh showed everyone, it doesn’t MATTER what the taxpayers want, or don’t want. No Politician wants to known as the one who let the football/baseball team leave. It’s a career-ending incident.
What the hell, it’s just taxpayer money, and the pols will be long-gone when the bill comes due.
“Half a billion to the taxpayers of Mn for 8 games a year.”
How much do you think it will cost you to bring your family to even one home game? Including parking, etc.
The Metrodome went up in mid 70s. Its roof collapsed twice in the late 70s, while I was in college in Northfield. As expected when you count on hot air and the name of a liberal icon to hold anything up.
No, it was built and opened in 1982. The first collapse happened in 1981 before it opened, and collapsed 3 more times over the years, the latest in 2010.
So much for precise memories. I thought it collapsed while I was in the state, 40 miles south, but instead it did in ‘81, ‘82 and ‘83. I’d left, but was still following MN news and misdated those memories.
My memories are clear but the dates are always a little foggy too, I find myself googling a lot to remember the dates of my memories.
My family = 7.
Tix - $100 each (cruddy seats) = $700
Food at the game x 7 = $140
Parking at the game = $30
Tank of gas for 4 hour round trip = $100
Total: $970
Not a chance in the world. I used to bleed purple. I have been reformed.
I think I’ll send half of that to Compassion International and spend Sunday afternoon playing catch with my kids in the yard instead of wasting resources on NFL. Under that scenario, everyone TRULY wins.
Lets not forget we just blew 20 million on a new roof for the dome. Gonna rip the place down and throw it away I guess.
I hope the idiots (YES, YOU POLS ARE IDIOTS) that voted for this remember why I and others won’t vote for them come November.
This shyt has to stop.
I won’t set foot in any of these places. I might be forced to pay for them, but I am not forced to buy a ticket and warm a seat.. (yet).
Couldn’t agree more. I am a Viking fan, went to 2 games.
Once in 1983 COST: $18 for 2 tickets, $30 for food, parking, and a souvenier. TOTAL: $48
Went to a game in 2009 COST: $240 for 2 tickets, $260 for food, parking, and a souvenier. TOTAL: $500
No more. I enjoy watching on tv more anyway
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