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FROM PFT
POSTED 11:34 a.m. EST, March 10, 2007
VIKES TANKING IT?
Tom Powers of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that there is growing suspicion in the Twin Cities that Vikings owner Zygi Wilf is purposely running the franchise into the ground in an effort to set the stage for a move to greener pastures.
Although we find it highly unlikely that any NFL team would try to lose in the short term in the hopes of killing local interest so that a move would be met with cheers instead of jeers, there's evidence that a relocation could be in the team's future.
Though Wilf expressed a strong desire to keep the team in Minnesota when he purchased the property from Red McCombs in 2005, Wilf's minions are now singing a slightly different tune.
The team's V.P. in charge of stadium development, Lester Bagley, recently had this to say about the sputtering efforts to build a new venue: "At some point [Governor Tim Pawlenty] is going to have to help us find a solution to this long-standing issue. He has long told our ownership that he wants to work with us to solve the Vikings' stadium problem, to keep us healthy and in this state."
If the team is never moving out of Minnesota on Wilf's watch, the phrase "in this state" has the same meaning in that passage as would the terms "in this country" or "on this planet." As we see it, then, those last three words were intended to put the people on notice, implicitly for now, that the Minnesota football team could soon join the former Minnesota basketball team in Southern California, if a new stadium isn't built.
But making the team into a stinker isn't the way to leverage a new deal. Especially since the fickle L.A. fan base wouldn't be too keen on a team that has zero prospects under Zygi of delivering victory on a consistent basis.
POSTED 11:34 a.m. EST, March 10, 2007
VIKES TANKING IT?
Tom Powers of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that there is growing suspicion in the Twin Cities that Vikings owner Zygi Wilf is purposely running the franchise into the ground in an effort to set the stage for a move to greener pastures.
Although we find it highly unlikely that any NFL team would try to lose in the short term in the hopes of killing local interest so that a move would be met with cheers instead of jeers, there's evidence that a relocation could be in the team's future.
Though Wilf expressed a strong desire to keep the team in Minnesota when he purchased the property from Red McCombs in 2005, Wilf's minions are now singing a slightly different tune.
The team's V.P. in charge of stadium development, Lester Bagley, recently had this to say about the sputtering efforts to build a new venue: "At some point [Governor Tim Pawlenty] is going to have to help us find a solution to this long-standing issue. He has long told our ownership that he wants to work with us to solve the Vikings' stadium problem, to keep us healthy and in this state."
If the team is never moving out of Minnesota on Wilf's watch, the phrase "in this state" has the same meaning in that passage as would the terms "in this country" or "on this planet." As we see it, then, those last three words were intended to put the people on notice, implicitly for now, that the Minnesota football team could soon join the former Minnesota basketball team in Southern California, if a new stadium isn't built.
But making the team into a stinker isn't the way to leverage a new deal. Especially since the fickle L.A. fan base wouldn't be too keen on a team that has zero prospects under Zygi of delivering victory on a consistent basis.
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