Stadiums – Page 38 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Worth Noting

Posted on March 5, 2012March 5, 2012 by David Shama

Condolences to the Fitzgerald family, including Larry Sr., Larry Jr., and Marcus, following the death of Sally Fitzgerald, their mother and grandmother. Services were held last Friday in Chicago.

The NBA’s compacted, strike-shortened season can be ridiculous as witnessed last week when the Wolves played on three consecutive nights—all road games. No wonder the Wolves, including Kevin Love who had a busy All-Star Weekend and was suffering from the flu during the week, looked sluggish at mid-week.

Gophers senior forward Trevor Mbakwe, injured and unable to play since November 27, was ceremoniously named the sixth man of the game on Saturday in Minnesota’s 81-69 win over Nebraska. The Williams Arena crowd responded with a standing ovation for Minnesota’s best player.

Paper work has been submitted to the NCAA requesting one final season of eligibility for Mbakwe since he was only able to play in seven games. It’s not known when the NCAA will respond and if Mbakwe will want to play next season for the Gophers, or pursue a professional career.

Sophomore guard Chip Armelin had a career high 20 points off the bench in Minnesota’s win, the last Big Ten regular season game prior to the start of Thursday’s conference tournament. He was given a rare second half start. Armelin has talked in the past about playing college football. It will be interesting in the coming months to see if he tries to play both football and basketball, or chooses one sport.

Coach Jerry Kill will provide C.O.R.E.S. members with a look at his Gophers football program on Thursday. Minnesota starts spring football practice on March 22. Ron Stolski, Brainerd High football coach and executive director of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, will introduce Kill. C.O.R.E.S. members can still make reservations by contacting Jim Dotseth. C.O.R.E.S. is an acronym for coaches, officials, educators, reporters and sports fans.

Fox Sports North televises the first of five Twins spring training games starting tonight at 6 p.m. when Minnesota plays Boston.

Patrick Reusse, talking on 1500 ESPN last week, credited a caller with a different way to look at the public commitment for a new Vikings stadium: The team ownership is willing to spend $427 million on the proposed $975 million facility and will use it only 10 or 12 times per year. The state and city, investing a combined $548 million, gets a covered facility to use for more than 300 days per year for community sports and a variety of major events. Seems like a good return on investment.

License plate seen Saturday on the all-electric Nissan Leaf car: Ybuygas.

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Look for Vikings Stadium Deal Soon

Posted on February 22, 2012February 22, 2012 by David Shama

Although 2012 is an election year for Minnesota legislators, it’s likely a Vikings stadium bill will be approved in the coming weeks.

That’s the opinion of an experienced stadium authority who spoke to Sports Headliners this week with the understanding his name would not be used. There’s public pessimism a stadium deal won’t get done not only because the controversial issue has been pending for more than a decade, but also state legislators are up for re-election in November.

Maybe some legislators will be concerned about voting for a stadium bill and then going back to face angry voters in their home districts but that possibility didn’t remove the optimism of the stadium source. “If the governor wants to get something done, normally we can get…it done,” the authority said.

Vikings stadium proponents pushed the issue in front of governors Arne Carlson, Jesse Ventura and Tim Pawlenty, but only Mark Dayton has been aggressively supportive. Dayton is advocating a downtown facility that the source said is likely to have a permanent, not retractable roof. Given the minimal need for outdoor events including Vikings games, the source said he didn’t know why stadium planners would “go to the expense” of having a retractable roof that would add another $25 million to the project.

Dayton has reportedly persuaded the Vikings to commit about $427 million for a new stadium on or near the Metrodome site. It’s a figure similar to what the Vikings had talked about spending on their preferred site at Arden Hills. “That’s pretty significant,” the source said.

Funding details for a downtown stadium costing about $975 million remain unsettled, although it appears Dayton is favorable toward sourcing part of the cost from electronic pull-tabs. Although that represents an expansion of gambling, the source said it’s a move more politically acceptable than other gaming options.

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Super Bowl & Other Notes

Posted on February 6, 2012February 7, 2012 by David Shama

Vikings second-year quarterback Christian Ponder can find inspiration in the two quarterbacks who played in last night’s Super Bowl. New England’s Tom Brady struggled during his college career at Michigan and New York’s Eli Manning was highly criticized during his early NFL years.

Former Vikings defensive end Chris Doleman will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August and he was introduced with other 2012 inductees before last night’s Super Bowl. “Doleman is one of those rare guys–maybe one of four or five that I played against during my career–right there with Reggie White, Bruce Smith, Derrick Thomas, that you had to know where they were and set your protection accordingly,” said former NFL quarterback Warren Moon. “You had to know if you were going to help the tackle out with a tight end or running back to chip on those guys. Doleman was someone you always had to worry about because you knew he could get to the quarterback. …”

NBClosangeles.com reported on Friday that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league has no plans for expansion and doesn’t want to relocate existing teams. A new stadium plan in Los Angeles hasn’t been finalized as a potential home to the Vikings or another NFL team.

The Lucas Oil Stadium where last night’s Super Bowl was played will be among the facility models that planners for a new Vikings stadium will study.

Minneapolis hosted the Super Bowl in 1992 and a new Vikings stadium is almost certain to be the site of a future Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl will be in New Orleans next season, then at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for outdoor football in 2014.

Since 1988 the NFC has won the Super Bowl every year during a presidential election year except 2004.

Among the TV competition for the Super Bowl is Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl. The annual show achieved a ratings record last year with 9.2 million viewers, according to Huffingtonpost.com. The 2011 Super Bowl had a record 111 million viewers.

The 17^th annual Vikings Arctic Blast Snowmobile Rally, scheduled at Lake Mille Lacs next Saturday and Sunday, will feature current and former Vikings players along with coaches and team executives. Among those scheduled to participate and help raise money for the Vikings Children’s Fund are quarterback Joe Webb and running back Toby Gerhart.

Allen Trieu of Scout.com speaking on the Big Ten Network about Gophers football recruit Ben Lauer from Wayzata High School: “Watch out for Ben Lauer, an offensive tackle that I don’t think gets talked about enough from right there in their backyard.”

Gophersillustrated.com’s Zach Johnson said Gophers coach Jerry Kill works his tail off recruiting.

In addition to discussing Kill, Johnson told Sports Headliners assistant coaches Bill Miller and Jay Sawvell were most instrumental in recruiting the 2012 class announced last week. Miller, the Gophers only assistant with BCS recruiting experience, specializes in south Florida. Sawvell was active in the Deep South and North Carolina including recruitment of highly regarded wide receiver Jamel Harbison from Charlotte.

Wisconsin has won consecutive Big Ten football championships but only twice in the last 10 years has Rivals.com ranked the Badgers recruiting classes among the top half in the conference.

Prep basketball authority Ken Lien emailed that sophomore Apple Valley High School point guard Tyus Jones received a scholarship offer from Duke.

The start time for the Wild game against the Bruins atXcel Energy Center on Sunday, February 19 has been changed to 2:30 p.m. from 2 p.m. The game will be televised nationally as part of “Hockey Day inAmerica” coverage on NBC.

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