SNAFU Stadium

 

 

"Its always fun to buy a new, very expensive house, even when the old one is just fine..."

I watched the first preseason game with the "new" Vikings last night. Lots of good draft choices, lots of good off season moves. A much better and deeper team. Result of the game - they got beat. Oh well - it is only pre-season.

The drama of the game however, is dull compared to what is happening behind the scenes with the "new house". I have made my feelings on this issue known for a while. The current venue, the Metro Dome, is not that old. It was built in 1982, about the same time our house was built. Not only that, it has a brand new roof and a brand new floor, thanks to the catastrophic roof collapse from a few years ago.

However, the Vikings ownership team has been putting the "East Coast Shuffle" on our poor, straight off the farm hicks, that currently run our state. They could not wait until they got this group of "Minnesota Nice" DFL novices to the negotiation table. Born and raised in the rough and tumble environment of NYC, the Vikings management team thought this would be picking low fruit off the trees. They were right.

Our Governor, the man with the "thousand yard stare", now realizes he and the state got taken to the cleaners. Not only that, this hair brained idea of electronic pull tabs, which nobody poll tested, has only produced a fraction of what was forecast. Now smokers will have to make up the difference. The latest news is that our "squeaky clean" Vikings management team just lost a huge and lengthy lawsuit. Reading about the specifics of the lawsuit reveals a management team looking and acting more like crooks than honest brokers.

Just to review, how much is this new Taj Mahal  going to cost us? It is projected to cost (assuming there will be no overruns) $975M. The Vikings management team will pick up $477M and the rest will be split between the country bumpkins in Minneapolis and the State of Minnesota. Remember, a portion of that $498M will be paid for by the electronic pull tabs that nobody seems to use.

Every other city goes through this right? Not so fast. The new Atlanta Falcon stadium, which will cost $1B, will be paid for primarily by the team. The public will only pay $200M of the total bill. A portion of the cities hospitality taxes will pay for operating expenses. If you think the folks in Minnesota got hosed on this one, your are absolutely correct.

In my working days, I spend most of my time dealing with folks from the East Coast. They are good, they are tough. Sometimes, they are dirty. After seeing how the Vikings led Anoka County around by the nose, you would think the good folks in the capital would have known better. Nope. Everyone was so afraid the Minnesota Vikings would become the LA Vikings. Really?

Is there a lessons learned form this huge SNAFU? Yes - next time you are in negotiations with snakes, don't send lambs. Send in snakes, even if you have to rent them from Atlanta.