New Vikings Owner Red McCombs met the MN press for the
first time during a news conference yesterday, and while it
"lacked the electricity and excitement generated" by Tom
Clancy's "tour de force in February, a feeling of stability
existed," according to Greg Johnson of the ST. PAUL PIONEER
PRESS. McCombs "again deflected talk" that he will move the
Vikings to San Antonio, and said that some of his
representatives "already have started discussions" with
Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission officials about
renegotiating the team's Metrodome lease. McCombs: "I don't
know what direction we will take (with the lease). I am
well aware that we are not in a competitive situation. We
have no deadlines, no threats or ultimatums. We're buying
this team at a very full price knowing there are no
commitments to change anything in the lease." McCombs, on
the importance of the Vikings to the MN community: "[P]urple
pride is very important to me. We are going to do whatever
we can to see that tradition carried on. We want to provide
a football team that this community can be proud of."
McCombs was joined at the press conference by Gary Woods,
President of McCombs Enterprises (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS,
7/8). In MN, Bob Sansevere writes that McCombs said
yesterday that Vikings President Roger Headrick "can play
just about any role he wants to" with the team. Sansevere:
"If McCombs wants to win over Minnesotans, he needs to make
a clean break from a regime that has alienated and angered
Vikings fans for years." Headrick said he had not spoken
with McCombs (PIONEER PRESS, 7/8). In Minneapolis, Dan
Barreiro writes under the header "The Buck Will Stop With
Red." Barreiro: "McCombs will put a human face on this
corporate blob of a franchise. ... He will give the fans
somebody to curse and to celebrate" (STAR TRIBUNE, 7/8).
