Vikes get $125M from NFL pool

The Minnesota Vikings borrowed $125 million from the NFL credit facility, or loan pool, becoming the 16th team to use it.

The credit facility now stands at about $1.8 billion, by far the largest of its kind. The NBA's loan pool is about $1 billion, and MLB's is around $1.3 billion.

By using some of their leagues' shared revenues as collateral, the credit facilities by and large offer better terms and rates than teams can secure on their own.

"It would be hard to imagine a stand-alone team could get a better deal than what the credit facility offers," said Elliott McCabe, managing director at Bank of America, which manages the NFL's credit facility.

The Vikings refinanced $125 million of debt the club had with J.P. Morgan Chase. Most of it was part of a loan that owner Red McCombs took out in 1998 to buy the club.

— Daniel Kaplan