According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Minnesota Vikings have reached a preliminary agreement with the city of Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota on a new stadium. According to the report, the stadium will cost approximately $975 million. The city will be responsible for $150 million in construction costs as well as $180 million in operating costs over the next 30 years. The state will pay $398 million, and the Vikings will pay $427 million.
The deal takes pressure off of the Vikings in terms of relocation. It had been speculated that they were one of the teams that was being targeted to move to Los Angeles. The Vikings, at least for the moment, appear safe in the ongoing relocation debate.
Other teams that have been mentioned have been the Chargers, Raiders, Rams, and Jaguars. There have been rumors that the Rams are working on securing renovations for the Edward Jones Dome, and the Jaguars’ new owner, Shahid Khan, has repeatedly said he will make it work in Jacksonville.
The Raiders’ new owner, Mark Davis, has already said publicly that Los Angeles is indeed an option for the Raiders. The Raiders are currently playing in the O.co Coliseum, one of the more outdated facilities in the NFL, and the Raiders played in Los Angeles through most of the 80s and the first half of the 90s. In simple terms, moving back to Los Angeles makes a lot of sense for the Raiders, because they already have a fanbase there.
The other team that seems to be firmly in the running for relocation is the San Diego Chargers, currently playing at Qualcomm Stadium. One of the hurdles the Chargers and the city of San Diego have been unable to clear has been agreeing upon who will pay for a new stadium, and how much will that total be. The Chargers have a clause in their lease, which runs through 2020, that allows them to move, penalty free, between February 1st and May 1st of each year. Every year, they release a statement saying that they won’t move this year, but the option remains open to them.
To me, the Chargers remain the front runner for moving to the City of Angels. They’re currently playing in one of the most out-dated stadiums in the NFL, and they’ve been asking begging for a new stadium for years, but the city of San Diego seems unwilling to grant their wish. On the other hand, Los Angeles has a stadium agreement ready to go for any team willing to make the move. The NFL would likely help the Chargers, or any other team for that matter, as much as possible in moving to L.A. On top of all of that, San Diego is only about 120 miles from Los Angeles, or a 2 hour drive. It just makes too much sense to ignore.
It seems that there won’t be any relocating teams in the immediate future, but the longer Los Angeles remains without a team, the likelihood of the NFL filling the void continues to increase.
