License To Get Gouged

Minnesota Vikings logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Months after Governor Mark Dayton and the Minnesota Legislature worked out a deal for a new Minnesota Vikings football stadium in Minneapolis, and months before construction is scheduled to begin, storm clouds are gathering over the nearly billion dollar stadium.

The Governor is upset because the Vikings are considering charging thousands of dollars more for certain seats to help pay for the new stadium, undermining his vision of a "people's stadium".  He's threatening to undo the deal itself if nothing's done about it.

The plan is called Personal Seat Licenses (PSL), also known as a Stadium Builders' License.  It's a one-time fee that gives the holder the right to buy season passes for, let's say, seats around the 50-yard line before he even purchases the season passes.

PSLs are just standard operating procedure in the National Football League, with 17 of its franchises using it to help pay for their new or refurbished football palaces.  Some teams, such as the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys are charging up to five or six figures.

What's strange about this is that Dayton and the Vikings had already agreed to PSLs in the stadium bill, so he doesn't really have a leg to stand on..  The team hasn't even decided if they want to do this or not, because they're in the middle of a survey asking season ticket holders what they think of it.

Should the Vikings decide to issue PSLs, they would first have to get permission from the newly-created stadium bill (which is made up of political appointees chosen by Governor Dayton and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak).  If they get the go-ahead, the team likely won't charge as much as the Jets, 49ers and Cowboys.

Another issue the Governor has a bone to pick with the Vikings about is the team's apparent willingness to take its home games on the road, which takes money out of the state's pocket.  The Vikings are scheduled to play a regular season game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in London next year, part of the NFL's ongoing marketing of American football in Europe.  (The Buffalo Bills already play two games a year in nearby Toronto.)  The league would like to expand the number of games in London to two a year, so the Vikings may be asked back in 2014.

Zygi Wilf, who owns the Vikings, has every right to conduct his business as he sees fit.  But charging for an artificial concept and taking your act across the Atlantic Ocean doesn't endear you to the folks who already pay hefty fees for tickets, parking and refreshments while being forced to sit behind a drunken dolt in purple makeup who stands and yells the entire game.  Not to mention sitting on your hands during endless time outs for TV commercials and replay reviews.

That's why most of us who won't be able to afford to go to a game in the "people's stadium" are perfectly content to park ourselves in front of giant high-definition screens, even though we'll be paying for the stadium ourselves through taxes.  When you get right down to it, isn't this really what the NFL is all about?