It depends one's perspective, I suppose, to say how long the Vikings have felt destined to move to Los Angeles.
If you are a member of the Twin Cities community, and have been listening to KFAN exclusively, you might think it is a foregone conclusion that the Vikings are like "this close" to leaving if something doesn't happen. By "something", of course, I mean $650,000,000 in public money to buy them a new stadium in a place in Arden Hills, which just so happens to have a lot of other undeveloped land that maybe, just maybe, owners of the Vikings, the Wilf Family, might just develop and not share any of those profits with the taxpayers--even though, in their own ad, they claim the stadium will be "owned" by the State of Minnesota.
TV Ad here. As I've pointed out, Field of Schemes has pointed out that the competing stadiums in Los Angeles aren't a done deal, by any stretch of the imagination. I've blogged my admiration of Star Tribune report Kevin Duchschere before, and I can only say that my one complaint about his new article, explaining all the things that have to happen before a team leaves is that it was not written six months ago. I mean, this Viking move has been threatened (not by the Vikings! Just by the people who rely on them, like KFAN's and the Voice of the Vikings, but in no way beholden to them, Paul Allen!) It is a complex dance, mind you--the NFL wants a team in LA, but they don't want to lose brand power. Here's the key paragraphs, in my mind, in the article (especially as the spectre of Bob Irsay is continually mentioned in Twin Cities Sports Radio (KFAN, the running dog of the Vikings) : "'Relocating an NFL team today takes time', said Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based SportsCorp, a sports business consulting firm. 'It's not one of these things like Bob Irsay' -- who famously moved the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis in the dead of night in 1984 -- 'pulling the moving trucks up to the facility. Those days are behind us.'"
So all the KFAN commentators who talk about what idiots those of us who think the Vikings are bluffing in their move to LA? NFL watchers, who aren't basically in the employ of the Vikings? They think that maybe The Vikings are bluffing.
Yes, you admire the views of a newspaper which can't manage to sell its lousy parking lots to the Vikings because of the Arden Hills site and pouts a lot, hoping for a return or Vikings' failure like a spurned lover.
Wilf can make money two ways: a new Minnesota stadium or a sale to the highest bidder among two competing California based billionaires. He's got the same slogan as Alfred E. Neumann, and will have the same smile as ol' Al, whichever way things break. If you don't want a guy from Jersey putting money into real estate in Minnesota, he'll be fine with that. It's your potential funeral and loss of tax revenues.
They say there is strength in numbers. There are more people in those counties around LA than in the entire state of Minnesota.
Nothing is inevitable until after it has happened, so what? The people of Cleveland in 1995 had hundreds of reasons on the tip of their tongues why Art Modell could never move the Browns. The team they once had got a Lombardi Trophy, but Cleveland has not. The Clevelanders also thought the Brown's team was bad because of its foolish coach. Let's see, the guy's name was Bill Belichick. History reads otherwise.
Your figuring has another kind of strength, though. After the horse leaves the barn, the horse dung of all the reasons why it couldn't have happened still stinks for a very long time. At least northeast Ohio as an NFL team again. LA has waited a decade and a half without one. Who wants to return to a region that can't really afford pro football, like Minnesota? The Packers will delight in their expanded TV ad market.
I'm already out in California with money for Viking season tickets. Who cares if they rename the team the Beach Boys? Purple and Gold are already trendy out here. Thanks for all your help in supporting my dreams with your amazing outhouse logic. With enemies like you, who needs friends?