The U.S. Bank name will go on the east side of the Vikings’ new stadium “in about three weeks,” and U.S. Bancorp Chair & CEO Richard Davis “gave a couple reasons for his firm getting involved in the naming rights” of the venue, according to Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. U.S. Bank is based in the Twin Cities, and Davis said, “One of the best ways to get the critics to wonder if you’re really going to stay is to put your name on something for 20 years. If they really wonder if we think we’re committed, and we’ve been partners for a generation, this is another way to do it. To me it was symbolic of the fact that we’re a Minneapolis-St. Paul-headquartered company.” Davis said that the naming-rights deal “was not just a case of a great relationship” with the Wilf family, which owns the Vikings. He said, “It’s really not a relationship between the Wilfs and the bank that’s going to be any different -- we already have that relationship. This is about creating a place in the community where people will go and our name will be identified with something positive.” Meanwhile, Davis also said that “additional money will be used to implement a charity scholarship program called ‘Places to Play’ between the Vikings and the bank” (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 7/2).
