The LA Trump Card
Excerpt:
Los Angeles lost its two NFL teams, the Rams and the Raiders, the same year, 1995. Since then, not including teams that would never move (the New York teams, Dallas, Pittsburgh) and the five expansions teams, 10 NFL teams have gotten new stadiums, and most of them had the threat of "you'd better build a top notch stadium, or else LA!" hanging over the host city. Recently, the threats from the NFL have become more ominous as developers insist they want to bring two teams to LA. Coincidently, four NFL team owners are looking for new stadiums: San Diego, Buffalo, Jacksonville and our own Vikings. My guess is the NFL felt the potential of one team moving wasn't enough to scare all four cities into action.
Comment: Goes like this: "If you won't build a stadium, we will move". And some people think ... "Minnesota won't be Minnesota without the Vikings". Well life will go on. Zygi Wilf needs to put up much more than he has so far voiced.
Another interesting related article: Minneapolis: Metrodome is ‘best site’ for Vikings
ReplyDeleteIn Los Angeles, two competing groups are hoping to build a new National Football League stadium with mostly private money, and the Vikings are among a handful of teams rumored as candidates to move to California if they do not get a new stadium here.
I was in LA when the Raiders and Rams left, and joked that with tickets for USC and UCLA hard to get, football fans would have to put on their bulletproof vests and go to high school games.
ReplyDeleteTo my surprise, everybody in the room--most of them native Los Angelinos and -as, agreed with me.
So it will be the West LA Viqueens, right?