Darren Wolfson: Will the Gophers rent TCF Bank Stadium to the Vikes?

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Its petty but I would not allow the vikings

in TCF Bank stadium for a even a tour of the facility as long as their associated with KFAN. Switch your contract in 2010 to WCCO for vikings games or you don't have access to TCF Bank Stadium for anything.
Yes it's stupid but I really dislike KFAVRE!
 

I'd like to see a renovated dome. Let the Vikings play in TCF for a couple years while the work is being done, but there should be no changes made that would affect football Saturdays on campus.
 

They can hang velcro banners and we get all the parking and concession, and suite, money. Sounds like a fair trade to me. Otherwise they can GTFO.
 

Gee, that proposal sounds vaguely familiar. Bend over Vikings, payback's a bitch.
 


I thought this issue was put to bed long ago. NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO! If the Vikings must rent TCF Bank Stadium while a new Vikings stadium is being built, that would be bad enough; but hopefully the rent for that short-term deal would be such that the Gophers would make big bucks.
 

As long as the Gophers make money off it, as long as the Vikings game-day changes are temporary, and as long as the relationship is not permanent, I'm fine with it. I think it would be a highly politically unwise move for the U to deny the Vikings to rent the stadium for a while. But let them hang plastic banners for the Vikings.
 

the stadiums the bomb, i'm sure vikes management is feeling a tad jealous, in spite of the oft-repeated mantra that they're the most popular game in town. gopher football changed forever last weekend. college football saturdays mean something again here.
 




Why is this even a conversation? No one -- not Hennepin, Anoka or Ramsey counties, nor the cities of St. Paul or Minneapolis or anyone else -- is willing to partner with the Vikings to make a new Vikings stadium happen. The state legislature certainly isn't on board. Without construction of a Vikings stadium, there is no need to rent TCF.
 

Hopefully if they do get a stadium deal it's in Blaine and they can build it while they are still playing at the Dome and this won't matter.
 

Maybe Saint Cloud could put a bid in for a Vikings stadium.

The only way the Vikings would rent TCF is if the Metrodome is rennovated, or if a new stadium is built on the existing Metrodome site. If that does happen, the U should make good money, but the Vikings would get a better deal at TCF than we got at the dome.
 




The Brewmaster said:
Why is this even a conversation? No one -- not Hennepin, Anoka or Ramsey counties, nor the cities of St. Paul or Minneapolis or anyone else -- is willing to partner with the Vikings to make a new Vikings stadium happen. The state legislature certainly isn't on board. Without construction of a Vikings stadium, there is no need to rent TCF.
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I agree. I can't see a Vikings stadium being a reality in this session or the next, there are just too many other issues going on in the state.
 

I have no passion invested in the Vikings - neither hate nor love - but I must admit that Lester Bagley is pretty smooth. He said all the right things, praising the design of both TCF Bank Stadium and Target Field, and expressing willingness to make a short-term Vikes tenancy on campus work, apparently without major changes.

The people who have the biggest stake in this decision, should a Dome renovation or replacement come to pass, are not far-flung passionate Gopher fans who consider TCF theirs/ours to share on a personal whim, but the University itself and its Prospect Park and Marcy-Holmes neighbors. Seven Saturday afternoon/evening games with 15-20% (students) of the attendees living within walking distance is one thing. Ten games on Sundays or Monday/Thursday evenings with everyone driving in is quite another matter. The University might well want to insist on no weeknight games on campus when school is in session, for example, and the neighborhoods could well consider themselves to be entitled to some kind of compensation (don't know what) for a massive disruption of their weekends. They knew they were close to the University, but an alien invasion of the area would have an environmental impact of another magnitude.
 

I'm not at all worried about the Vikings renting the stadium for a few years while they build their own. I am, however, VERY worried about them becoming a permanent co-tenant. I think that's a very real possibility.
 

Ski U Master said:
I agree. I can't see a Vikings stadium being a reality in this session or the next, there are just too many other issues going on in the state.
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When was the last time a major stadium project went through without the backing of a Governor? Senate or House Leaders can kill a bill, but they can squwak all they want about getting a stadium built but without a Governor twisting arms and finally signing the bill it won't get done in Minnesota. Anderson, Perpich, Carlson even Pawlenty famously dumped his "no new taxes pledge" to allow Hennepin County to raise their taxes to build a new Twins stadium.

But at the time all those guys were thinking about elections in Minnesota.

The main question then becomes what are the chances that Pawlenty pushes for a Vikings stadium? He's running for the GOP nomination on a conservative, don't spend money platform now. Does anyone seriously think he's going to throw that away to get 600, 800, 900 million for a new Vikings stadium?

The "not on my watch" mantra will ring pretty damn hollow for a guy who's thinking White House not Governor's mansion.
 

The dome is a terrible location for a football stadium, so hopefully any new Vikings stadium will end up being being built in the suburbs (and without a roof).
 

I would view the Vikings using our stadium a big positive. The University would no doubt make money off the deal, but there is no bigger sport in the United States than the NFL. It would be an excellent chance for TCF Bank Stadium to be shown off an extra 8 times a year to the rest of the country. I remember when Soldier's Field was being remodeled in Chicago, the Bears playing down at U of Illinois. They kept the midfield logo and endzones blue and orange.
 

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