Vikings Stadium Miscellaneous Discussion

[Viktor Vaughn]

The posts can be moved or deleted, but the stadium construction will remain inseparable from the legislation that created it.

Conventional wisdom says anti-stadium backlash eases after the deal is done. I suppose that's why stadium supporters seem so mystified that 18 months later folks are still so upset there's an anti-stadium undercurrent to the municipal elections.

Minneapolis will be paying for this decision for more than thirty years. This stadium is our monument to excess -- you're going to hear about what a travesty it is for decades to come -- get used to it.

[JMS9]

That's what people said about Target Field too,and when the shovels hit the dirt, the whiners and complainers went back into their holes. You cant put the toothpaste back in the tube. The stadium passed. It's getting built. Move on with your lives.

[Rich]

I’m guessing it’ll get built, and it’ll be sort of cool, and there will be less fuss. Then the Super Bowl will roll through town and the media will gush about Minneapolis and the gripes will further subside. Then the College Football Nat’l Championship and the Final Four will arrive. Then Major League Soccer. At that point any brave souls still demanding to rehash the imperfect process which led to the stadium’s inception will probably just be ignored.

[kirby96]

To continue to take this further OT, my cynic sense does give me a very faint feeling that football may be on its way out in the next couple decades. I say that as a Gopher football season ticket holder who enjoys watching football, and is going to a Vikings game next week, but...it's becoming increasingly clear that there are a bunch of guys in their 40s walking around with brain damage. Which isn't to say that Americans have no taste for blood sport, but if enough parents really start withholding their kids from football programs at the high school level, and the racket that is the NCAA eventually collapses (another subject altogether), it's not outside the realm of possibility that the NFL could fold.

So, hey, soccer.

I love watching football too. While the violence makes it a bit 'meathead', the actual strategies of using 11 men per team are probably the most complex of any sport. It's even more fun to watch the more you learn. That said, I have to agree with you in principle.

However, I personally think the outcome will probably be a slow evolution to something that becomes less and less like football as we know it today (think about how protected quarterbacks are now, the use of helmets vs. none 75 years ago, etc.). This will be very frustrating, but I don't see it going away, just evolving to something that may be nearly unrecognizable to someone time traveling from, say, 1965 to 2035. You hit the key point of why this will occur: if it basically becomes 'neglect' to let your kid play offensive line, where will the players come from? This will force pretty radical changes at some point. Maybe 5 Mississippi will become the rule in the NFL.

[FISHMANPET]

So I guess it's a thing now, there will once again be two concourses for skating:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 2277214350

[Didier]

Pretty awesome that WSJ has an article about (breaking news about?) Rollerdome.

[talindsay]

Hopefully that also means the return of MDRA runs in the new stadium?

[Didier]

It's hard to see why it would be back as well, since it basically has the same criteria (a continuous loop!). I haven't seen anything official, though.

[mplsjaromir]

hmmm

[Didier]

Not directly related to the Vikings stadium, but the Atlanta Braves announced today that they are moving from their 15-year-old ballpark (the converted 1996 Olympic stadium) into a massive suburban complex. Public financing with the new county is pretty much app set up, and they're basically saying "we'll tell you about it later."

Amazing how different the approaches are in our two cities. This also shows why eliminating the public subsidies across the board isn't as straightforward as it sounds.

[widin007]

One of their reasons is that MARTA doesn't stop at Turner Field. While they are moving 5 miles from ANY mass transit. Oiy. Not to mention the stadium is 17 years old!!

[mattaudio]

Wow. Good for Atlanta.

[Nick]

http://deadspin.com/chart-how-the-brave ... 1462494338

[seanrichardryan]

To be fair, most of Atlanta is just a suburb pretending to be a city.

[John]

What I heard in news reports is that Turner Field has terrible traffic and parking issues. The area around it is considered unsafe, and there are no nearby restaurants or bars to go to. Most of the fans are from affluent Cobb County and the team wanted to be better located near that demographic to increase ticket sales.

The Vikings Stadium has a vastly superior location with less traffic and safety concerns. It is right next to the LRT. It's in DTE which is on the verge of becoming one of the most dynamic parts of our city and metro area. Our planning for this stadium, the three block park, and Ryan's Well's Fargo project are very well concieved. We did it right here.

[mattaudio]

What you heard in news reports is ridiculous.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighb ... lous/7547/

[JMS9]

Atlanta is arguably the WORST sports city in America. None of their teams, regardless of sport or record, ever draw. That's the last city I would ever use as a comparison or barometer for anything.

[John]

It's a pretty good article that reads between the lines at times. However, it still holds true that our new stadium is well planned and connects nicely with public transit and the city core. It's spurring the transformation of DTE from a sea of surface parking lots to an awesome urban district. So we are NOT building it in Arden Hills and building it where it rightfully belongs. The article just reinforces my opinion that Atlanta is not a city (or metro area) with good urban planning. Minneapolis is much more succesful and thoughtful in that aspect. Agree JSM9, these two urban areas are not comparable.

[emcee squared]

The Braves are moving to within 3 miles of my house. The location being at the intersection of two congested freeways and local surface streets, a regional mall, and miles of suburban strip-mall is going to be an absolute nightmare. To go anywhere by car, I will first have to check if the Braves are playing.

[BigIdeasGuy]

Atlanta is arguably the WORST sports city in America. None of their teams, regardless of sport or record, ever draw. That's the last city I would ever use as a comparison or barometer for anything.

No the award for WORST sports fans would go to Miami. Teams only really draw when they are winning big and even then fans come late and leave early, see Game 6 of last year NBA's Finals for evidence. Granted the Marlins are an absolutely terrible organization in every way but even it's first year Marlins Stadium was basically empty. Neither the Dolphins or the Hurricanes can fill the seats even in one of the most football crazy areas of the country.