CHILLY FIRED - Packers are COACH KILLERS!

[Joemailman]

I think every thing Zygi had done the last couple of years is aimed at getting the people of Minnesota to provide him with a new stadium. He's willing to take short-term losses to achieve it. The plan, shall we say, has run into some obstacles this year.

[Fritz]

I think every thing Zygi had done the last couple of years is aimed at getting the people of Minnesota to provide him with a new stadium. He's willing to take short-term losses to achieve it. The plan, shall we say, has run into some obstacles this year.

Isn't threatening to leave the city the most tried-and-true tactic?

By the by, did Jerry Jones pay for his JerryDome all by hisself, or did the taxpayers of the Republic of Texas help him out with that?

[swede]

If you had to give percentages, Joemailman, what are the % for the Vikings staying in Minny?

[Packgator]

Isn't threatening to leave the city the most tried-and-true tactic?

By the by, did Jerry Jones pay for his JerryDome all by hisself, or did the taxpayers of the Republic of Texas help him out with that?

350 million (give or take) was provided by city (325) and county (25) taxpayers. I think the NFL chipped in a little too.

[3irty1]

Could be lots of things, the most simple being that their owner is willing to operate at a loss, for whatever reason, for a given period.

Owning the Vikings is a pretty expensive hobby. if the 3.5 million lousy fans in MN can't turn you a profit I'd be awfully tempted to trade them for 15 million lousy LA fans and a new stadium.

[Joemailman]

If you had to give percentages, Joemailman, what are the % for the Vikings staying in Minny?

I'd put it at about 80%. Sounds like the incoming Governor wants to get it done, and he says the lack of success on the field this year should not be an issue.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/..._Politics.html

Dayton said the Vikings’ on-the-field woes – the team has just three wins this year – should not impact the stadium issue. “It would be better if they were undefeated and, yes, [going to] the Super Bowl would definitely help the matter,” he said, smiling.
But he said building a new stadium, with public financing, is “a decision that’s going to affect the future of the team and the state of Minnesota for the next 50 years. So, it’s not a function of how well the team’s performing this year.”
Dayton’s comments were some of his strongest on a new Vikings stadium, an issue that is likely again to face legislators starting in January. The team, which has played at the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis since the early 1980s, has said it will not renew its lease at the facility when it expires at the end of the next season.
Dayton’s comments also came a week after Republican legislative leaders, who will assume a majority in both the House and Senate in January, expressed support for addressing the issue at some point during the upcoming legislative session. In speaking to reporters Monday, Dayton said much of what happened regarding the stadium next year would depend on the Legislature’s new Republican leadership.
“I’ve said all along I support a ‘people’s stadium’ – one that’s in the public interest, one in which the public benefits [are] greater than the public cost,” he said.

[Cheesehead Craig]

I really don't think it's that high, not for the upcoming session at least. The state is still in the red and Hennepin County won't support another stadium tax (they already have one for the Twins). There isn't a whole lot of traction right now for one as Ziggy wants a 1B+ stadium.

[Scott Campbell]

What are the chances the Zygi is already negotiating with one of the LA stadium groups?

[LP]

If Zygi did move the train wreck to LA, maybe it would be close enough to talk Bert into coming and throwing to the team recievers instead of a bunch of high schoolers or Wrangler actors.

[Joemailman]

If Zygi did move the train wreck to LA, maybe it would be close enough to talk Bert into coming and throwing to the team recievers instead of a bunch of high schoolers or Wrangler actors.

Um...Hattiesburg to L.A. is about 800 miles more than Hattiesburg to Minneapolis.

[pbmax]

The Packers public books state that profit from operations was 9.8 million last year.

The Vikings books aren't public but the following quote from Jerry Jones discussing the revenue sharing that exists under the current CBA where revenues of the top 10 teams are shared with the bottom 10.



If we are in the top 10 in revenue and the Vikings are in the bottom 10, and our profits were 9.8M last year... how can a team like the Vikings afford to piss away 6.6M on a newly extended coach? Where's Patler?

The profit figure does not figure into whether the Packers contribute to the local revenue share pool, just revenue counts if I remember correctly. It is possible the lower revenue teams are clearing more profit than the Packers. And I don't think the Packers have contributed to the pool every year since 2006. The refurbished Lambeau bump has been passed by other teams with newer streams of revenue/stadium upgrades.

[LP]

Uhh... Noo....Lower Alabama is only about 75 miles from Hattiesburg. Jeeesh, what planet are you from? (insert sarcasm and smiley face here)

[Guiness]

Jerry's pulling out the old tricks - sucking up to the KC's and GB's of the world by mentioning that they are subsidizing teams like the Viqueens.

Jerry, you just don't want to subsidize those teams.

I imagine he'd be fine with a baseball-like system in which a few huge market teams dominate most of the time, and the smaller teams scramble to talent that they either cannot find (Pittsburgh) or cannot afford to keep (Pittsburgh, Minnesota).

Wouldn't that suck - have the small market teams do all the hard work of scouting and drafting the talent, developing it, then having to trade it away to the New Yorks, New Englands, and Dallases of the world?

Trading it away would be bad enough, but of course, if you're truly talking about a baseball-like system, they would get nothing for it when the bigger teams signed them as FA's after their initial contract was up. (compensatory picks just don't cut it)

[Fritz]

I'd put it at about 80%. Sounds like the incoming Governor wants to get it done, and he says the lack of success on the field this year should not be an issue.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/..._Politics.html

Dayton said the Vikings’ on-the-field woes – the team has just three wins this year – should not impact the stadium issue. “It would be better if they were undefeated and, yes, [going to] the Super Bowl would definitely help the matter,” he said, smiling.
But he said building a new stadium, with public financing, is “a decision that’s going to affect the future of the team and the state of Minnesota for the next 50 years. So, it’s not a function of how well the team’s performing this year.”
Dayton’s comments were some of his strongest on a new Vikings stadium, an issue that is likely again to face legislators starting in January. The team, which has played at the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis since the early 1980s, has said it will not renew its lease at the facility when it expires at the end of the next season.
Dayton’s comments also came a week after Republican legislative leaders, who will assume a majority in both the House and Senate in January, expressed support for addressing the issue at some point during the upcoming legislative session. In speaking to reporters Monday, Dayton said much of what happened regarding the stadium next year would depend on the Legislature’s new Republican leadership.
“I’ve said all along I support a ‘people’s stadium’ – one that’s in the public interest, one in which the public benefits [are] greater than the public cost,” he said.

I read an interesting article about three years ago - where, I cannot remember - that made a strong case that there is no case in which a publicly financed stadium has benefits that outweigh the costs. The direct economic impact of a stadium occurs in a very limited area of any downtown - if you took the same amount of money that a stadium would require and put it into a downtown development authority, the entire city and state would receive far greater benefits for a far wider range of any given city.

[ThunderDan]

I read an interesting article about three years ago - where, I cannot remember - that made a strong case that there is no case in which a publicly financed stadium has benefits that outweigh the costs. The direct economic impact of a stadium occurs in a very limited area of any downtown - if you took the same amount of money that a stadium would require and put it into a downtown development authority, the entire city and state would receive far greater benefits for a far wider range of any given city.

Not sure about that Fritz. I had a client who owned hotels in GB, Appleton and Oshkosh and every playoff game was another $30,000 dropped to the bottom line on each hotel. 3 hotels filled for two nights in mid-January is a owner's wet dream. Then there is the sales tax on the room, room tax and people buying food & beverage which you collect sales tax on.