Yesterday was an exciting day for Minnesota Momentum as a Vikings stadium bill was introduced at the Minnesota Legislature. The announcement of the legislation for a publicly-owned facility came with resounding support from all across the state. Business and labor leaders, as well as representatives from the hospitality industry and the High School Football Coaches Association, all stood up to show their support.
Now with the political process underway, Momentum supporters have an even bigger opportunity to have their voices heard, as early as today, when the stadium bill is heard in front of the House Local Government Division Committee at 4:00 p.m.
TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2010
4:00 p.m.
Meeting Time Note: Hearing will begin 30 minutes after the House floor session adjourns, but no earlier than 4:00 p.m.
Room: 5 State Office Building
Chair: Representative Michael V. Nelson
Agenda:
HF3825 (Solberg) Alternative plans for a new National Football League stadium in Minnesota provided, Minnesota Stadium Authority established, and Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission abolished.
While we have already lined up fans and stadium supporters to testify at tonight’s hearing, there will be more, including two on Wednesday, should the bill clear tonight’s committee, and we are going to need more fans to step up. Email us at minnesotamomentum@vikings.nfl.net if interested.
These next few days will be critical to the success of finding a stadium solution that will keep the Vikings in Minnesota for the next generation of fans. We'll keep you updated as the bill progresses -- and let you know how you can help.
Here is what you can do to help make sure this bill results in a new multi-purpose stadium for the State of Minnesota:
• Contact your elected officials and tell them why you support a new stadium.
• Show your support on stadium articles posted online in the comments section.
• Tell your friends and family why you support a new stadium and get them to sign up to become a member of Minnesota Momentum.
• Keep up to date on what is going on by stopping by www.minnesotamomentum.com at least once a day.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
What Price Vikings Fandom? Funny You Should Ask
Economists Say It's $530.65, Silly Horns Not Included
By CONOR DOUGHERTY
MINNEAPOLIS—Christopher Slinde, a lifetime Minnesota Vikings fan who has endured decades of heartbreak and lots of overpriced beer in supporting his team, believes Vikings fandom is priceless. According to economists, it's worth $530.65.
"This is deep," said Mr. Slinde, a 33-year-old X-ray technician, outside the Park Tavern near Minneapolis on Sunday. He had been handed a recent economics paper that is tattooed with equations and attempts to value, in dollars, the joy and pain Minnesotans get from the Vikings.
"Don't economists spend their time on more serious stuff?" he asked, after thumbing through the paper in the cold.
As fans pack stadiums and couches to watch the National Football League's divisional playoffs this weekend, they care about victory. Economists are tackling a more abstract challenge: putting a price on the emotional benefits of having a pro sports team in town.
The worth of fandom may seem theoretical, or even silly. But it's serious business for teams like the Vikings, who want Minnesotans to help them pay for an $870 million stadium to replace the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis. The Vikings' Metrodome lease runs out in 2011 and the team says it won't sign an extension without a deal for a new stadium.
The team hasn't explicitly said it will bolt without a deal. But it insists the Metrodome cannot support a modern NFL franchise. So, many fans are convinced that without a new stadium, the Vikings will take their quest for football greatness to a warmer state with no Nordic heritage.
Sports teams sell their facilities as economic-development projects that create jobs and generate tax revenue. But a slew of studies have shown that publicly subsidized stadiums—usually paid for by selling bonds and paying the cost and interest with tax revenue–rarely return the money governments put into them. Teams continue to argue, often successfully, that they are worthy of subsidies because they are a source of civic pride and purpose.
But what is that worth? Economists Aju Fenn and John Crooker tried to answer the question in a study published in July 2009 in the Southern Economic Journal.
The two used "contingent valuation methodology," which is a nerdy way of saying they surveyed people and used statistical models to turn the answers into an average price Minnesotans place on the Vikings.
The result: The Vikings' "welfare value" is $702,351,890— $530.65 for each of the roughly 1.32 million households in Minnesota.The study was conducted in 2002, and the figures are not adjusted for inflation (or for the recent acquisition of quarterback Brett Favre).
You couldn't touch that money. It's an abstract figure meant to catch everything from the joy of donning blond braids and Vikings horns to the feeling of pride that even nonfans get from living in a "major league" city. In the broadest sense, Mr. Crooker says, "welfare value" represents the worth Minnesotans place on having the Vikings in Minnesota.
It's tough putting a price on feelings, which is why some economists are skeptical of contingent value studies.
"It's not that this is capturing nothing, it's just that it's not legitimate to interpret people's answers as if folks were spending their own money," says Peter Diamond, an MIT economist. He co-authored a 1994 paper titled: "Contingent Valuation: Is Some Number Better Than No Number?"
Mr. Fenn, chair of the department of economics and business at Colorado College, got the idea for his Vikings study 10 years ago, while teaching a sports economics class at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. The Vikings had a new owner so then, as now, fans were worried the team would leave.
Other economists have used contingent valuation to measure the social benefits of professional teams. But Mr. Fenn believed fears of a Vikings departure would produce a more accurate tally of the value Minnesotans get from their purple and gold team.
Matt McLoone for The Wall Street Journal
Brian Sand, an ardent Minnesota Vikings fan, in the basement lair where he watches games with his friends.
Minnesotans are no strangers to sports abandonment. In 1960, the Minneapolis Lakers basketball team moved to Los Angeles, a city not known for its lakes. The Minnesota North Stars hockey team became the Dallas Stars in 1993.
So, on a fall evening before a 1999 Monday Night Football game, Mr. Fenn and some students went to a Metrodome parking lot to survey tailgaters. Some fans whipped out their checkbooks to make the point that they would pay on the spot to keep the Vikings in town. (No donations were collected). The drunker fans got, the more they were willing to pay, Mr. Fenn observed.
Survey questions were fine-tuned by the Metrodome experience. In the 2002 off-season (to minimize in-season emotions), Messrs. Fenn and Crooker mailed 1,400 surveys to households across Minnesota, capturing both fans and nonfans.
The study's figures were based on the mail surveys, which had 30 questions ranging from demographic information to how much time the person discussed the Vikings at home and at work. But the so-called welfare value was generated from a single yes or no question: Would you be willing to pay $X out of your own household budget for the next year to make a new stadium possible? There was one price on each survey (it ranged from $5 to $100).
Mr. Fenn cautions that the $702 million welfare value doesn't mean that helping the Vikings with a stadium would be the best use of the state's tax dollars.
"We're not suggesting that the state of Minnesota act a certain way, or that voters support [a new stadium], or not support it," he says. "We're just pointing out that the Vikings mean a lot to the average Minnesotan."
You don't need a doctorate in economics to discover that the Vikings mean a lot to Brian Sand, a Minneapolis police officer. He watches games in a basement lair he calls "Jerseys" for the four framed and autographed Vikings jerseys hanging on the walls.
On a recent Sunday evening, Mr. Sand was seated on the Jerseys couch with his fiancée, Emily Johnson, eating chocolate-chip cookies and chuckling as the Vikings' archrival, the Green Bay Packers, lost their championship hopes on an embarrassing fumble.
If he had to, Mr. Sand guesses he would spend up to $500 a year to keep the Vikings around. As a kid, he devoted his Sundays to church and the Vikings, and the team still helps him get through the cold Minnesota winters. "This state is a Viking state," says Mr. Sand.
Mr. Slinde, the X-ray technician, says he'd be out of a hobby if the Vikings left town. No more tailgating in the cold or watching games at bars or at friends' houses. No point in listening to sports talk radio. The only benefit Mr. Slinde can see is that if Vikings left town, he'd save a lot of money.
Write to Conor Dougherty at conor.dougherty@wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748704281204575002843963779182-lMyQjAxMTAwMDEwNjExNDYyWj.html
Friday, January 8, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR VIKINGS STADIUM SOLUTION
Eden Prairie, MN – Meet Minneapolis™, Official Convention + Visitors Association, and its Board of Directors today announced its support for a Vikings stadium solution during the 2010 Legislative Session.
“We believe the Vikings are an important asset that needs to be retained in Minnesota,” said Meet Minneapolis President & CEO Melvin Tennant. “Professional sports add to the competitiveness of the region and positively impact the hospitality industry, which is why we support the Vikings efforts to resolve this issue in 2010.”
Within the position statement, Meet Minneapolis said, “the team generates awareness, civic pride, tourism and fan visits while adding significantly to the state’s economy…therefore Meet Minneapolis™, Convention + Visitors Association, strongly supports an aggressive public discussion and action leading to a solution to the team’s facilities needs before the end of the 2010 Legislative Session.”
“We are very appreciative of Meet Minneapolis’ support of our stadium efforts,” said Vikings Vice President of Public Affairs and Stadium Development Lester Bagley. “The Vikings value the input of the hospitality industry and the relationship we have with them. We know this project will not move forward without the involvement of business and community leaders like Meet Minneapolis.”
ABOUT MEET MINNEAPOLIS: Meet Minneapolis is a private, not-for-profit, member based association. It actively promotes the Minneapolis area as a venue for conventions and meetings and markets the city as a desirable tourist destination to bring a positive economic impact to the greater Minneapolis area.
Media Contacts: Connie Stelter for Meet Minneapolis, 612.767.8042, connies@meetminneapolis.com
Statement from Meet Minneapolis
“We believe the Vikings are an important asset that needs to be retained in Minnesota,” said Meet Minneapolis President & CEO Melvin Tennant. “Professional sports add to the competitiveness of the region and positively impact the hospitality industry, which is why we support the Vikings efforts to resolve this issue in 2010.”
Within the position statement, Meet Minneapolis said, “the team generates awareness, civic pride, tourism and fan visits while adding significantly to the state’s economy…therefore Meet Minneapolis™, Convention + Visitors Association, strongly supports an aggressive public discussion and action leading to a solution to the team’s facilities needs before the end of the 2010 Legislative Session.”
“We are very appreciative of Meet Minneapolis’ support of our stadium efforts,” said Vikings Vice President of Public Affairs and Stadium Development Lester Bagley. “The Vikings value the input of the hospitality industry and the relationship we have with them. We know this project will not move forward without the involvement of business and community leaders like Meet Minneapolis.”
ABOUT MEET MINNEAPOLIS: Meet Minneapolis is a private, not-for-profit, member based association. It actively promotes the Minneapolis area as a venue for conventions and meetings and markets the city as a desirable tourist destination to bring a positive economic impact to the greater Minneapolis area.
Media Contacts: Connie Stelter for Meet Minneapolis, 612.767.8042, connies@meetminneapolis.com
Statement from Meet Minneapolis
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