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Support for Vikes
Stadium Takes Time
The
Minnesota Vikings’ drive for a new stadium may resemble the franchise’s
offense this past season, lacking momentum and struggling to find the
end zone. The team’s stadium lease at the Metrodome expires after the
2011 season and ownership can then move the team if it chooses. The bet
here is the Vikings will receive financial assistance for a stadium
before 2011 but not this year. The franchise management and ownership
have stated for years their revenues are among the lowest in the NFL and
they need a new facility to generate additional income.
Of
primary importance is how to fund a new stadium that with a retractable
roof could approach a cost of $1 billion. It’s anticipated the Vikings
will help significantly in the funding but other financing will be
needed. As usual with stadium funding, the financing idea will be
controversial. For example, sales tax revenues from the seven county
metro area dedicated to the stadium will receive plenty of opposition
including from Anoka County, the intended site for a stadium until the
Vikings decided they preferred downtown Minneapolis.
Not
only will it require time to work through a financing plan, but the
state legislature, other leaders and the public will need to be sold on
the downtown site, retractable roof, and building a third new stadium in
a market place already committed to about $800 million in stadium costs
for the Twins ballpark and Gopher football stadium.
A new
Viking stadium on the Metrodome site makes sense. Owner
Zygi Wilf can potentially work with the city on
land development as part of a stadium deal, enhancing the east side of
downtown. A retractable roof stadium will effectively replace the
Metrodome, continuing to provide this area with a large venue serving a
variety of uses benefiting the community, from NCAA basketball
tournaments to concerts, from high school football and soccer playoffs
to tractor pulls, from small college and high school baseball to long
distance running. Such events (the Metrodome is used more for
other events than it is for the Twins, Gophers and Vikings) not only serve the community, but they cause
economic activity in the city with expenditures for food, lodging,
shopping and more. As the hub city in the region, Minneapolis is the
best site for the stadium and like other inner cities across America
needs economic activity and renewal.
While
some may swallow hard at the thought of three stadiums for perhaps a
total cost of $1.7 billion, each stadium fits a purpose. The Gophers
wanted a college size stadium on campus and many in the University
neighborhood didn’t like the idea of the huge crowds a combined
Vikings-Gophers facility would bring to the University’s East Bank. The
Twins? While they must play a few more years in a covered football
style facility in the Metrodome, no major league baseball team plays in
that kind of stadium anymore. The Twins’ need for a new stadium has
always been the most pressing.
The
Twins and Gophers stadium success was slow to develop in the
legislature. The Vikings have been pitching for a long time, too, but
legislators don’t give their support to stadium bills easily and it may
take awhile longer, perhaps 2008 or 2009, to see the stadium drive reach
the end zone.
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A retractable roof stadium will
effectively replace the Metrodome, continuing to provide this area with
a large venue serving a variety of uses.
Zygi Wilf
As the hub city in the region,
Minneapolis is the best site for the stadium and like other inner cities
across America needs economic activity and renewal. |
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Gophers Missing Tyler Hirsch
Former Gopher hockey coach Glen Sonmor, now a
radio analyst on Gopher games, was asked if Minnesota misses
Tyler Hirsch, the senior forward who left the
team in late December after a career of developments that reportedly
provoked the coaching staff. “I am afraid they have missed him,
particularly on the power play. . . . He’s an outstanding offensive
talent,” Sonmor said. “He was as great a passer of the puck on the
power play that I have seen in a long time.”
The
Gophers were No. 1 in the country and building on a long winning streak
when Hirsch was playing. They are no longer No. 1, although they still
lead the WCHA standings and are ranked No. 2 nationally. Sonmor said
the Gophers particularly miss Hirsch’s assists, and the absence of his
offense has contributed to the team’s more recent struggles (losing four
of six games during a January stretch). Hirsch had 18 assists in 15 games.
Does
not having Hirsch diminish the team’s national championship goal? “It
would be an easier task with him there than without him,” Sonmor said.
“No doubt about it.”
With
or without Hirsch, much of the Gophers’ playoff success will be
determined by the goal tending. “When I look at the strengths of this
team, I think the goal keeping is a real strength of it,” Sonmor said.
In
contrast to the past, coach Don Lucia has played two goalies this
season, Jeff Frazee and Kellen Briggs. Both have been
impressive. Sonmor said Lucia doesn’t necessarily have to pick one for
the playoffs, noting that Denver won consecutive national championships
using two goalies.
Sonmor is hoping both freshmen stars Erik Johnson and Kyle
Okposo say no to the NHL and return next season. Both can
potentially benefit from another season of college hockey where they can
become even more dominant players and increase their confidence. Okposo
can particularly gain from another year of physical maturity.
Johnson, the No. 1 pick in last year’s NHL draft, is the most ready of
the Gopher freshmen to move on to the pros. “He’s the real deal,”
Sonmor said. “There’s no question about it.”
Okposo? “I think that would be a real mistake for that young man to go,”
Sonmor said. “And I don’t think he will go. I think that he is very
education oriented. And his comments seem to be along that line. . . .
I hope in his wisdom he delays it a little bit.”
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Don Lucia
“It would be an easier task with him there
than without him.”
Glen Sonmor talking about national title
prospects without Tyler Hirsch
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Worth Noting
Minnesota Wild players will participate in a sold out fund raiser for
Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota on Sunday. Players will
wait on tables at Pazzaluna Urban Italian Restaurant and Bar in St.
Paul.
The
much talked about Sun Country TV commercial featuring the Star Tribune’s
Sid Hartman is still airing on local TV.
Have
faith Vikings fans: the Indianapolis Colts are now the second team that
plays its home games in a dome to win the Super Bowl. The St. Louis
Rams were the first, winning the Super Bowl in 2000.
Former Gopher football coach Glen Mason
is vacationing at his home in Palm Beach, Florida.
Former Gopher basketball coach Dan Monson has
been visiting other college basketball schools to learn about their
programs and how they do things. Monson’s Bearpath home is on the
market.
Mike Wilkinson, who wrote a book on former Gopher football coach
Murray Warmath, noted that among Big Ten Conference coaches Warmath and Penn State’s Joe Paterno
have the most former players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, three
each. The recent election of Charlie Sanders means he joins
Bobby Bell and Carl Eller as former Gophers in the hall who
played for Warmath.
Hamline University sophomore guard Jon DeRock averaged 29 points
and 6.5 rebounds while shooting 67 percent from the floor as the Pipers
won a pair of conference games last week. He’s been chosen as the
MIAC’s men’s basketball player of the week. Other conference players of
the week are Jessica Katch of St. Thomas and Hannah Oken-Berg
of Carleton (co-winners women’s basketball); Kevin Rollwagen of
St. Thomas (men’s hockey); Sarah Windhorst of Gustavus Adolphus
(women’s hockey); Scott Hagemeyer of Gustavus Adolphus (men’s
swimming and diving); and Lauren Wallerius of Gustavus Adolphus
(women’s swimming and diving).
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The Colts are now the second
team that plays its home games in a dome to win the Super Bowl.
Dan Monson
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