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photo by Eric Johnson
Minnesota Vikings' wide receiver Sidney Rice greets fans at the Austin YMCA during a visit with teammate Visanthe Shiancoe, owner Zygi Wilf and cheerleaders Kelly and Laura Tuesday.
Vikings come to town
Published Tuesday, November 24, 2009
“Maybe we should just come down here and call it Hormel Field.”
That was Paul Allen, Minnesota Vikings radio play-by-play announcer, speaking Tuesday in Austin as he, two offensive standouts and Vikings owner Zygi Wilf came to greet fans, interact with kids and, inevitably, talk stadium.
Tight end Visanthe Shiancoe and wide receiver Sidney Rice — the National Football Conference's leading receiver — joined Wilf and Allen at the Austin YMCA and the Hormel Historic Home as part of the Vikings’ “You Made The Team” community tour.
The day started with Rice and Shiancoe leading several hundred kids in jumping jacks, jogging and jumping.
A few youngsters asked questions of the players and Wilf — including one boy who asked if the team had hotel reservations for Feb. 7, the day of this season’s Super Bowl — and some were even able to nab autographs.
Dugan Soost, 6, whose favorite player is Rice, came with his mom, Deb, from Alden, Minn. Both scored Wilf autographs on their purple sleeves.
“It’s wonderful,” Deb Soost said of the event.
Later, the Vikings crew headed to the Hormel Historic Home for a luncheon sponsored by the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce.
Flanked by city leaders like Mayor Tom Stiehm, the players joked around and showed off their lighter sides during a forum led by Allen.
At one point, Shiancoe even did his best impression of defensive end Jared Allen’s “calf roping” sack routine, drawing plenty of laughter from the crowd.
But when Paul Allen took questions from the audience, many focused in on a more serious issue on a lot of people’s minds — the Vikings’ pursuit of a new stadium.
Last week, Wilf made headlines by criticizing The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission — essentially the Vikings' Metrodome landlord — for asking the team to renew their stadium lease.
Wilf has said a new stadium is an essential component of the team’s future in Minnesota, but the MSFC wants the team to stay in the Metrodome until at least 2013, two years after the Vikings’ current dome lease expires.
On Tuesday, the owner told fans and reporters that a new stadium will generate a lot of jobs and be a positive thing for the community.
Wilf said the team would prefer a retractable-roof stadium located where the Metrodome is now, in downtown Minneapolis. Wilf also said it's important to get the conversation going "now" and to make a serious push at the Legislature in 2010.
“We need to get the governor’s office and people up on the hill more engaged,” Wilf told the crowd at the Hormel Home.
The team has long pined for a new stadium, and proposals to put a field in Blaine or downtown or elsewhere have surfaced frequently. But with the Metrodome’s other two tenants — the Minnesota Twins and the University of Minnesota’s football team — getting new digs, Wilf said the Vikings have patiently awaited their turn.
"When I see how important the Vikings are to the quality of life in Minnesota, I think it's a very important issue," Wilf said. "We need to find a new home for the Minnesota Vikings."
Asked if the team would jet out of town without a new stadium, Wilf said simply that he does not intend to move the Vikings.
And though Paul Allen’s Hormel Field idea is not likely to gain steam, Wilf said it’s essential to reach out to Austin and the rest of greater Minnesota as the team looks to gain stadium support.
“I think it’s very important,” he said. “We need to get engaged.”
If the team does work on engaging Austin more, maybe Shiancoe can visit the city’s famous museum.
“What’s in a SPAM Museum?” the tight end, who said he ate SPAM and onions as a kid, asked.
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Comments
Posted by leftys2221 (anonymous) on November 24, 2009 at 4:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with Mr. Wilf and he has said he will be a significant portion of it.
Posted by jmdaniel (anonymous) on November 24, 2009 at 6:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
How about "Pigsticker Palace"?
Posted by JAY_JAY (anonymous) on November 24, 2009 at 6:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
put the new stadium here in austin we love the vikings most of us are life long fans
Posted by Littletoad (anonymous) on November 27, 2009 at 3:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wilf said. "We need to find a new home for the Minnesota Vikings."
Send'em packing.....Is there no shame for these millionaire "tin cup" holders. So their business model doesn't support them, big deal, take a pay cut, chump!
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