# The Los Angeles Vikings **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 1, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565 "2010-12-01T17:46:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/1 "2010-12-01T17:46:08Z")
Vikings Contacted by Two Owner Groups for Los Angeles Relocation > [@](#): > > The Minnesota Vikings are currently in the final year of their lease at the outdated Metrodome, meaning that next year, the team could literally be anywhere. > > Los Angeles, the subject of increasingly-loud rumblings of new stadiums and franchise courtships, appears to again find itself in the center of relocation rumors, as two L.A. groups have reportedly contacted Vikings about possible relocation, [ESPN.com](http://ESPN.com) reports. > > “We have been approached by two different groups in Los Angeles – the Ed Roski group and more recently by former Timberwolves CEO Tim Leiweke and AEG,” Vikings vice president of public affairs Lester Bagley said in a chat on the team’s website on Tuesday. It all hinges on whether the people of Minnesota will be suckers and pay for a new stadium for billionaire owner Zygi Wilf. As a Packer fan this gives me no joy. I hate the Vikings, but love the rivalry. In fact I grew up right on the Minnesota-Wisconsin border near Minneapolis, so while we were Wisconsinites, all of our news and television was Vikings dominated. Loyalties in the town, even in my family, were split. If the Vikings were to move I wonder if they would join the NFC East and then the St. Louis Rams would join the NFC North? Seems weird, but logical, of course. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/2 "2010-12-01T17:48:34Z")
I hope the Vikings stay put. I hate it when NFL teams move from one city to another, especially over stadium complaints by billionaire owners. LA should get a team at some point, but it should be an expansion team, not some other town’s team. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/3 "2010-12-01T18:06:23Z")
I’d like it. Put the Vikings in the NFC West and move the Rams to the NFC North. Makes an easier travel schedule for the NFC West and St. Louis fits geographically into the NFC North. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/4 "2010-12-01T18:15:12Z")
I really wish local governments would get together and decide, as a unit, that tax dollars will not be spent for pro sports stadiums. If the teams want a stadium, let them build it…and pay for it themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/5 "2010-12-01T18:21:39Z")
Ah … the millionaire extortion game begins: Build me a new stadium or I’ll move your beloved team to a city that will love it more. Since tax dollars would almost certainly be required to build a new stadium in the Twin Cities metro area, I don’t see us building Zygi a new playground. But … seeing as the rabid “no new taxes” crowd doesn’t find THESE types of taxes objectionable (“It’s for the VIKINGS!”), it may happen. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/6 "2010-12-01T18:27:18Z")
I think the NFL likes having Los Angeles without an NFL team so the other owners can use the threat of moving there to get a new stadium in their current city. Woody Johnson of the New Jersey Jets made that threat a few years ago. But I’m sure the rabid “more taxes please” crowd will fully endorse these extortions. Advice to Vikings fans if they move: buy a large screen tv and watch in your living room. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/7 "2010-12-01T18:43:07Z")
The owner of the San Diego Chargers makes this threat like clockwork, too. ---
**Author:** ![zoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7ea924/32.png) [@zoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoog)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/8 "2010-12-01T19:20:51Z")
It would be pretty amusing to me as a Bears fan for a season or two (however long it takes them to realign). The L.A. Vikings home games against the Bears and Packers - and to a lesser extent, the Lions - would be more like home games for the visiting team than for the Vikings. We have a lot of midwestern transplants out here. That actually makes me wonder - what would the reaction of the Vikings fans who live out here be like? Would they be excited to have their team nearby, or would they feel betrayed that the team left their “native” land? I kind of think that I’d hate it if this were the Bears, which I acknowledge is kind of hypocritical seeing as I relocated here myself years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/9 "2010-12-01T22:13:49Z")
Hasn’t LA already proven about half a dozen times that it can’t sustain a football team? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/10 "2010-12-01T22:26:41Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > I really wish local governments would get together and decide, as a unit, that tax dollars will not be spent for pro sports stadiums. If the teams want a stadium, let them build it..and pay for it themselves. The extortion is bad enough, but then when they get the stadium they practically treat it as disposable. The Metrodome isn’t even 30 years old; and how many other stadiums from that era have been abandoned and demolished? So go ahead, build a palace for these millionaires. Once it’s not bright and shiny anymore, they’ll demand an even better palace. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/11 "2010-12-01T22:31:46Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Hasn’t LA already proven about half a dozen times that it can’t sustain a football team? LA has never had a problem supporting a team. The people simply refused to fund a new stadium, end of story. If LA is now willing to fund a stadium, or if private money is making it happen, the only negative to being in LA is gone. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/12 "2010-12-01T22:54:22Z")
Makes as much sense as the LA Lakers, why not? Next, the LA North Stars. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/13 "2010-12-02T01:50:50Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I hope the Vikings stay put. I hate it when NFL teams move from one city to another, especially over stadium complaints by billionaire owners. LA should get a team at some point, but it should be an expansion team, not some other town’s team. Hell, I _still_ find it confusing: Friend: “The Jags are playing Baltimore this weekend.” Me: “Umm the Colts-no wait the…Ravens.” :smack: I do the same thing with the Rams. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/14 "2010-12-02T04:24:36Z")
The Colts have actually now been in Indy longer than they were in Baltimore. That wasn’t their original home, either; they were the Dallas Texans before that. ---
**Author:** ![Bartman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bartman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bartman)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/15 "2010-12-02T04:45:22Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The Colts have actually now been in Indy longer than they were in Baltimore. That wasn’t their original home, either; they were the Dallas Texans before that. Well kinda… But if you are going to include that muddy ancestry why not go all the way and include their various other incarnations as well: The Dayton Triangles –\> The Brooklyn Dodgers –\> The Brooklyn Tigers who merged with The Boston Yanks to form The _Undisclosed Location_ Yanks –\> New York Yankees –\> Dallas Texans where the ownership eventually merged in 1953 with the remains of The Miami Seahawks –\> The 1947-50 Baltimore Colts. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/16 "2010-12-02T04:49:21Z")
The Vikings aren’t going anywhere. This is just Zygi trying to spook the legislature into moving its ass on a stadium deal. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_Clock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Shot\_Clock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_Clock)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/17 "2010-12-02T04:51:34Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > The people simply refused to fund a new stadium, end of story. If LA is now willing to fund a stadium, or if private money is making it happen, the only negative to being in LA is gone. I think it would most certainly have to be private money. How the hell can they justify raiding the LA and California public exchequer for a stadium when the whole damned state’s on the verge of being repossessed? ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/18 "2010-12-02T05:55:25Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The Colts have actually now been in Indy longer than they were in Baltimore. That wasn’t their original home, either; they were the Dallas Texans before that. Not quite. Baltimore Colts 1953-1983 31 seasons Indianapolis Colts 1984-2010 27 seasons ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/19 "2010-12-02T07:33:16Z")
> [@Shot\_Clock](#): > > I think it would most certainly have to be private money. How the hell can they justify raiding the LA and California public exchequer for a stadium when the whole damned state’s on the verge of being repossessed? Simmons had a interesting Podcast with one of the principles of a group trying to build a football stadium in LA. The gist of their business proposal is that they’ll package the stadium construction with a complete revamping of the LA convention center and a couple other municipal works. The upshot being that it’s in the cities best interest to fund the project locally based on the revenue that a year-round facility would generate. Currently LA is essentially a dead stick when it comes to the crazy lucrative convention business and it would create a lot of jobs. What proportion will be public money and what will be private wasn’t discussed, but he couched the discussion in a way that obviously was intended to make getting some public money a possibility. The impact of LA Live and the Staples Center on downtown LA is a pretty strong marketing tool and could pretty easily swap some public opinion on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565/20 "2010-12-02T21:46:30Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Woody Johnson of the New Jersey Jets made that threat a few years ago. It’s worth pointing out that Woody’s new stadium wasn’t funded with taxpayer dollars. Sure the cost was defrayed by splitting the bill with the Giants, but it still ended up costing like $800m each. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > The extortion is bad enough, but then when they get the stadium they practically treat it as disposable. The Metrodome isn’t even 30 years old; and how many other stadiums from that era have been abandoned and demolished? Most of them, but in fairness 30 years ago they didn’t build luxury boxes. A new stadium can legitimately bring in _far_ more revenue than a 30-year old one, so it’s not like they want a new stadium just for the sake of having one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-los-angeles-vikings/562565.md?page=2)