NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell met with Minnesota state leaders Friday in a "high-stakes effort to win a publicly funded stadium" for the Vikings, according to a front-page piece by Kaszuba & Ragsdale of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Goodell was accompanied Friday by Steelers President and NFL Stadium Committee Chair Art Rooney II. The meeting with Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders "from both parties follows a Thursday telephone call in which NFL officials told Dayton it was urgent to resolve the stadium issue this spring." Dayton said Goodell and Rooney Thursday "didn't issue any threats or anything, but it was more of a warning" that the Vikings might leave Minnesota. He added, "It was very clear that they see that the Vikings will be in play (to move) if this is not resolved or unfavorably resolved in this session." A bill is "scheduled to come before the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee on Friday." Also on the agenda are "competing plans to build the stadium in Arden Hills and another for the state to lend" the Vikings $300M for a new stadium. The House Taxes Committee on Thursday "kept a gambling bill moving that could provide the funding for the state contribution to a Vikings stadium." The "personal involvement of NFL officials is one of a growing number of signs that the league believes the Vikings are moving closer to 'stalemate' conditions with the team's host city." So far, the legislature has "shown little willingness to move ahead with a plan in which the Vikings would contribute" $427M to a new stadium, the state would add $398M and Minneapolis would chip in $150M (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 4/20). ESPN's Adam Schefter on Thursday said, “There’s 12 days left in the state legislatue period here where the NFL can go in and ... state its case.” If “nothing gets done and that bill does not get revisited” during that time, then the Vikings are "free to talk to other cities.” Schefter: “At that point in time there will be a lot of pressure on Minnesota to get something done” (“NFL Live,” ESPN, 4/19).
L.A. STORY: In L.A., Vincent Bonsignore notes Vikings Owner Zygi Wilf's "private plane was spotted at a Southern California airport Thursday," after Goodell Goodell "met privately" in L.A. with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa within the last few days. If the Vikings relocate to L.A., the "gut feeling here is it will be Farmers Field, with AEG head Phil Anschutz buying the Vikings outright." Wilf has "fought the good fight for a new stadium for more than seven years in Minneapolis -- picking up where former owner Red McCombs left off after his own eight years of battling for a new stadium." But Wilf has been "met with resistance at nearly every turn, the latest blow Monday the equivalent of Lucy pulling the football just as Charlie Brown was preparing to kick a field goal" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 4/20). Also in L.A., Sam Farmer notes the fact Wilf's plane was spotted near L.A. is an "interesting coincidence, although Wilf does own real estate in California and has a fleet of planes." Farmer: "The way this week has gone for the Vikings, it's easy to see why team officials can envision a more dire outcome" (L.A. TIMES, 4/20).
WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART: NFL VP/Business Ventures Eric Grubman said that it is the league's "opinion that the Vikings have met the 'good faith' criteria and would satisfy the 'stalemate' criteria if Minnesota legislators don't pass a stadium deal before their session ends" in 11 days. Grubman noting with upcoming elections, there will be "political dynamics changing. You're going to have lots of different people nominating different sites. ... These things cost millions and millions of dollars just to get it to this point. What would be the justification for doing it again on the part of the Vikings?" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 4/20). The AP's Campbell & Condon ask, "What's the harm in waiting another year, after elections are over this fall?" Grubman said, "It's easier to answer why it must happen this year. It's because the Vikings ownership has waited and waited for years. Because if there's no action taken this year then there's no confidence it's worth waiting any longer. If that's where this gets to then Minnesota loses control of the Vikings' destiny. That doesn't mean it's going to go to one city or another, it just means that you can't count on it." Dayton's spokesperson said that the governor "spoke by phone with the Wilfs on Thursday." The Wilfs had "no plans to attend Friday's meeting with the NFL leaders." Grubman: "The Wilfs, I don't believe they've ever been open-minded to selling. If this fails to get out of committee, then I think they'd be open-minded." Campbell & Condon note the Vikings are the "most popular team in a crowded market and haven't had a home game blacked out" in 15 years (AP, 4/20).
MORE RED TAPE: In Minneapolis, Mike Kaszuba noted there was a "brief -- but unsuccessful -- attempt Thursday to revive the plan" in the House. With the "Republican-controlled House ready to adjourn for the day, House Minority Leader Paul Thissen suddenly asked that the plan be sent to the House Taxes Committee." Republicans "blocked the move by Thissen" by a 68 to 59 margin (STARTRIBUNE.com, 4/19). State Rep. Morrie Lanning, the stadium bill sponsor, said, "Representative Thissen did not talk to me, and he should have. It's customary for the author of the bill to make a motion like that. This has to be bipartisan. This was not a strategy that I agreed to" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 4/20).
RESISTING RELOCATION? In N.Y., Ken Belson notes the NFL "prefers that the Vikings remain in Minnesota because of strong fan and corporate support." The question, though, is "not where the stadium might be, but whether state lawmakers want to approve the use of taxpayer funds to help a privately held team, especially during an election year in a state with big budget problems and many Tea Party activists" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/20). ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert wrote, "You should be aware that NFL teams have acted swifly in the past, relocating without giving a deadline or even an explicit warning." There would be "nothing stopping Wilf from throwing his hands up, selling the team to a Los Angeles investor next month and being done with it" (ESPN.com, 4/19).
CHECK THE SCOREBOARD: In Minneapolis, Kevin Duchschere notes the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission on Thursday approved a $276,000 contract with South Dakota-based Daktronics to replace "two 23-year-old auxiliary scoreboards in the Metrodome with LED-display boards." Daktronics was the "only bidder on the project." The new scoreboards could be "moved and used in the new Vikings stadium being considered at the Legislature." Work will begin in June and be finished by Aug. 1, "in time for the Vikings' preseason games" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 4/20).
