Ryan van Bibber, at SB Nation:
Two years ago, the Minnesota State Legislature and the city of Minneapolis were ready to walk away from a plan to provide approximately $500 million to Vikings owner Zygi Wilf to pay more than half the costs a new stadium. It took a veiled threat to move the team to Los Angeles and a dramatic last-minute lobbying campaign from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, but the will of a few people prevailed. The Vikings got their stadium and eventually the 2018 Super Bowl. Now, the NFL has a few demands of its own, 153 pages worth of them.
Minneapolis and the two other finalists for the 2018 Super Bowl were presented a list of demands by the NFL prior to voting on which city would get the big game, a list the Minneapolis Star Tribune was able to get a copy of along with confirmation that the city agreed to meet a “majority” of the league’s demands…
Among those demands:
– Free police escorts for team owners
– Use of Presidential suites at the city’s top hotels at no-cost
– 35,000 free parking spaces
– All revenue from ticket sales to the game…
– Local police dedicated to anti-counterfeit enforcement, provided at no cost…
– Free access to three top golf courses in the months before the game
– Exemption from state, county and municipal taxes…… “We haven’t seen the bid, so we don’t know what was agreed to,” the Mayor’s office said in a statement to the Star Tribune. The public may never know exactly what the committee agreed to give the NFL in exchange for the game. An attorney with the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority said that state law protects the privacy of the city’s agreement with the league…
Much more at the link.
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Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Elmo
All of the people benefiting from this deal are multi-millionaires. And they’re quibbling over golf fees?
Morzer
@Elmo:
Of course. They are fighting the power, brother!
Baud
I’m disappointed that neither hookers nor blow is on the list.
Mnemosyne
@Elmo:
How do you think they got so rich? Rich people are cheap, penny-pinching bastards, which is why they’re libertarians who want everyone else to pay for roads, schools, bridges, police, etc.
I am once again proud that my city and county of Los Angeles refuses to be blackmailed into the NFL’s conditions for allowing a team here again. We are standing firm on our conviction that the stadium needs to be paid for by private money while the NFL insists that it must be built using taxpayer money.
Suffern ACE
Ok. I’m not certain id be happy if I were a country club member and was told that the state made me give up my tee time, but at the same time I probably wouldn’t golf much in November through January in Minnesota.
The top hotel in the area is Colleen Olerud’s loft near Powderhorn Park. But good luck getting that unless you are a five star rated guest on AirBnB
skerry
Anti-Washington DC team name ad to run during NBA finals game tonight
Ken
Did the agreement say where the police would be escorting them?
WaterGirl
@skerry: Wow I got goosebumps watching that ad. I noticed the organization name at the end appeared to be “change the mascot” not “change the name”. Interesting.
coloradoblue
I really want to say something important and profound but all I can think of is:
FUCK THESE PEOPLE!
Roger Moore
@Elmo:
It isn’t about the money, it’s about the power to extort all kinds of crazy stuff just because you can.
Schlemizel
@efgoldman:
They pulled a beautiful deal here in MN. To get the Twins a new palace they voided a state law specifically designed t prevent a give away & past a ta on only one county in the whole tate. Of course all the reps from that county voted against it & most everyone else voted for.
The beating did do the trick though. When the Vikings wanted an even more grand Xanadu they played fast & loose with some numbers & allowed for “electronic pull tabs” couldn’t do slot machines because they made a deal with the natives – not slots for the state & in return they get a slice of the casio money. They used inflated estimates to pretend this would pay for the thing. After the first year it is obvious it won’t. Voters have come to expect to be screwed for these 2 losers.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@coloradoblue: And yet it will go on and on and on, because the average slob needs his football as much as he needs his guns.
Petorado
FIFA, NCAA, IOC, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL … is there a major sports governing body that hasn’t proven itself to be a cesspool of corruption, immoral behavior, and privileged entitlement? The pride, passion, prestige, and identity that comes with sports is powerful leverage for extortion.
Elliott
“- Free access to three top golf courses in the months before the game”
In Minnesota. In January. Are they into nordic skiing?
Cassidy
@Petorado: Shit, that’s amateur hour stuff. You should read up on the various state athletic commissions.
mainmata
It appears that sleaze ball Eric Cantor, Majority Leader of the RatF*ckers Party has been successfully primaried by a local TP Lunatic. Good. The more the lunatics that occupy the HOR the better in that the public may finally realize that there is no governing body in the majority party of Rat F*ckers. Hoping that accelerates change. Maybe I am too optimistic.
MattR
@Elliott: There is a clause that says if the venue is a cold weather location then they get golf course use during the summer or fall prior to the big game. At the same time, if you read the full clause you will learn that they want the courses for use by the NFL Foundation Golf Classic on the Saturday before the Super Bowl (which raises money for youth football). Maybe not the most noble of charities, but also not as crass as wanting exclusive access for corporate bigwigs (which is what I initially thought when I read the short description)
Pogonip
Once again I’d like to thank everybody for all those helpful suggestions!
Elmo, did you ever find a taker for all those kittens?
LanceThruster
JUMP YOU FUCKERS!
ET
That agreement is going to be leaked at some point. Can’t wait to read what wasn’t included in the published list.
The Tragically Flip
Anti-trust legislation should be used against every professional sporting league (I guess except baseball since they’re explicitly authorized to be a monopoly).
Then, the guillotines.
Rasputin's Evil Twin
@Petorado: “Sport does not build character, it merely reveals it” -George Bernard Shaw.
Can’t some civic “leader” publicly tell the NFL the following: You’re a non-profit and want our taxpayers, most of whom can’t afford tickets to your games, to foot the bill for your sports palaces AND give you all sorts of goodies? Where do you greedhead motherfuckers get your balls from? Fuck you and your criminal acts.”
Yeah, right. Because FOO’BOLL and Jesus, in that order.
kindness
Golfing in Minnesota in December, January & February….they must be talking the X-Box or PS4 versions. Can’t golf well in snow.
Ella in New Mexico
Seriously: what if the NFL Superbowl came knocking with it’s ridiculous “List of Demands”, and no one even answered the damn door?
Zygi Wilf
@Rasputin’s Evil Twin:
Well, if you’re a civic leader like my buddy the CEO of US Bank who was instrumental in landing the Super Bowl in 2018 for Minnesota, what do you do?
Why, you furlough your technology staff for a week!