Get Ready for the "L.A. Vikings" talk

While we are all giddy over the Vikes getting Jared Allen all the talk at Winter Park is now about championships (just think what that place is going to be like this weekend with the all the mooks getting loaded and basking in Jared Allen's glow.) Apparently, Zygi "broke the bank" with the signing and issued his 4th capital call for $20M to cover the contract. What worries me is this: "The Vikings have operated from a negative cashflow position since Wilf and his partners paid $600 million for the franchise. Debt service, low stadium revenue and increased expenses all have played a role in the situation. Wilf, however, has been unwilling to realign costs." While this is exactly what we want to see from our owners (closed circuit to the Pohlad family) the fact that the Vikes can't get the legistlature to discuss a stadium combined with the lease being up in 2011 at the Dome is looming. At some point Zygi is going to say "I've done everything I could to get a stadium built and be competitive. LA/Las Vegas/Des Moines has offered me a new home for the team and I can't lose money any longer as my investors and I need to see a positive ROI at some point in our lifetime."

While this might be Chicken Little, Minnesota's appetite for publicly finance stadiums (and Malls) has run dry. Get ready for the threats and innuendo's to moving the team that are soon to follow. Minnesotan's pride themselves on not having guns held to their heads by private business (which is not true when you look at how they have handled Northwest Airlines over the years) but this is one private business that has more to do with civic pride and quality of life and could leave on ugly terms. I'm just sayin'...