Bob Lurtsema, a member of Zygi Wilf’s advisory board, believes the Vikings will obtain state backing for a new stadium within two years, but even if the team has to remain in the Metrodome he doesn’t think the franchise will relocate. During an interview earlier this month with Sports Headliners, Lurtsema, speaking for himself and not the Vikings, said Governor Tim Pawlenty is “behind” a new stadium.
“He can’t push it just by himself,” the former Viking and local businessman said. “Of course, he’ll have to have a little financial justification to the public on how it’s going to be paid for.
“Everybody knows that taxes right now are out of hand and who knows what’s going to happen next year? But we’ve got to maintain first class facilities because that’s why your 3M’s stay here. All your major corporations come here because they have football, basketball, baseball. They have all these different things for their employees…”
In 1984 the Colts unexpectedly deserted Baltimore for Indianapolis, a move that still reverberates with negativity. It was an outcome the NFL won’t forget and Lurtsema believes Vikings fans are beneficiaries of Baltimore’s disaster.
“I think the National Football League learned from the Baltimore Colts moving to Indianapolis that the rivalries that you have, that you created over the years, you can’t eliminate those,” Lurtsema said. “The Vikings, the Bears, Packers, Lions (those) rivalries, that’s history. Don’t take history and try to change everything over. …”
Lurtsema also talked about when the Cleveland Browns franchise relocated to Baltimore after the 1995 season and became the Ravens, with the name Browns retained for the expansion franchise that came later to Cleveland. The Browns’ team colors and records were also retained for Cleveland, not Baltimore. “Baltimore shouldn’t be the Ravens,” Lurtsema said. “It should be the Indianapolis Ravens and the Baltimore Colts.”
Lurtsema admires Wilf, the Vikings’ owner. “I love Zygi and what he’s done here as far as opening up his checkbook to coach (Brad) Childress and bring somebody in like a Jared Allen (All-Pro defensive end) who not only played unbelievable but he picked up the play of the other three defensive linemen,” Lurtsema said. “Because if you look at the stats, you can see how many more tackles they had, how many more hurries they had…”