Vikings SBL

[Myrt]

Should be interesting to see how much season ticket holders will have to pay for a one time fee(SBL)..Stadium Builders Licenses, to secure season tickets. Info received says $1000 to $10,000, with average around $2500, leaving about 25% of the stadium(12,000 seats) out of this. Hoping to generate 125 million towards stadium. We'll see.

[Myrt]

per Vikings Scout

Getting into the Minnesota Vikings’ glitzy new stadium will come at a high cost for some fans: an average of $2,500 for the right to buy a season ticket in the new building.

The ticket licenses cover three-quarters of the building’s 65,000 seats, the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority revealed Thursday. They’re a key part of two agreements that won quick approval from the public authority. One covers how the stadium will be financed and built, the other how operating costs and revenue will be split over a 30-year lease.

State taxpayers are paying $348 million toward the nearly billion-dollar stadium, with the city of Minneapolis putting up $150 million. The Vikings are responsible for $477 million.

The seat licenses are expected to generate $100 million toward the Vikings’ share of building costs. They will range in price from as low as $500 to $10,000, with choice seats at the higher end. Fans will have three years to pay the cost without interest. If they need longer, they can take up to five more years but will have to pay interest.

The agreements don’t cap what the Vikings can charge for tickets themselves. They must make available 3,250 “affordable” tickets for each game but the agreement leaves it unclear what those will cost.

The potential cost of the seat licenses was a flashpoint as the agreements were negotiated, with Gov. Mark Dayton warning the team against excessive fees for what he had billed as a “people’s stadium.”

The authority said Minnesota’s seat license program would cost fans less overall than those in other NFL markets. They pointed to recent stadium deals in Dallas, New York and San Francisco that all raised $400 million or more through the license sales.

“I can safely assume that for most Minnesotans this will look like a questionable deal because the economics of professional sports are highly questionable all over this country,” Dayton said Thursday. He called the stadium “a magnet” for further economic development.

“We had to make a deal. We had to get the owners of the team to agree to a deal,” he said.

Authority chairwoman Michele Kelm-Helgen said the seat license was the final issue in reaching contract agreements. She said Minnesota’s approach would differ from those implemented in other cities, but she still expected a backlash.

“Having a program in and of itself is going to make a lot of people angry,” she acknowledged. But she said the cost is lower than what the Vikings had sought and if the sales program falls short of expectations the Vikings would be on the hook.

Lester Bagley, a Vikings vice president, said the team was pleased with the agreements that emerged from “hardnosed” negotiations.

These are “significant milestones,” Bagley said. “Now we can move forward to construction, breaking ground.”

In addition to the seat licenses, the Vikings are also tapping into an NFL loan program for $200 million. The team’s remaining costs will come from borrowing by the owners. They might be able to recoup costs in part with annual naming rights revenue. A naming rights deal hasn’t been announced.

The agreements bind the team to a lease of 30 years or more. Once the stadium opens, Kelm-Helgen said the team will pay the authority $8.5 million in annual rent and put $1.5 million into a capital improvement fund each year, with both payments rising over time.

The authority will keep concession revenue from non-football events as well as any money that comes in from stadium tours. In Dallas, hundreds of thousands of fans have paid $20 each to tour that new stadium.

Seat licenses — known as charter ownership agreements in some cities — began taking off with sports stadium construction in the mid-1990s. They’ve become particularly rooted with NFL teams; more than a dozen of the league’s 32 teams have them in some form already.

The seat licenses become the property of the purchaser, allowing fans to sell the rights when they no longer want season tickets. The resale market can be lucrative. In Pittsburgh, for instance, fans who bought a seat license for a stadium that opened in 1998 averaged a roughly nine-fold return when selling it a decade later, according to online seat license broker STL Marketplace. But in cities where the team has struggled, Tennessee and St. Louis among them, fans have suffered losses when they have tried to dump their licenses.

The pair of Minnesota stadium agreements is part of a fall ramp-up for the project. By next month, the state hopes to select banks that will facilitate a bond sale to pay construction costs, akin to a home mortgage.

In early November, Vikings owners and politicians expect to gather for a ceremonial groundbreaking and significant construction will begin within weeks.

The Vikings are playing their final season at the 32-year-old Metrodome. They’ll move to the University of Minnesota’s on-campus stadium for a couple of seasons. If all goes as planned, their new stadium will open on the old Metrodome site in time for the 2016 season.

[LMITOUT]

Getting into the Minnesota Vikings’ glitzy new stadium will come at a high cost for some fans: an average of $2,500 for the right to buy a season ticket in the new building.

People's Stadium...

[BuckSutherland]

What a fricken joke. I hope that billionaire SOB crashes into a mountain somewhere. When E pull tabs and smoking fails even more than it already does will that mean they are gonna come rape my wallet for more?? Maybe we could strap Ziggy to the first cruise missile inbound for Tehran.

[toughguy]

I work in a small office. We have had season tickets for about 5 years now. We give half of them away to clients and employees use the other half. I know exactly what the company owner is going to say when we tell him the seat license is going to total $2000-$10,000 for the 4 tickets. It was nice while it lasted. I know they did a survey but I don't see how the market will pay these fees. My borther's in-laws have had tickets since the 60's. They are on the 45 yard line about 3 rows up. I can guarantee you they won't be keeping their tickets (at least not in the current location).

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

What a fricken joke. I hope that billionaire SOB crashes into a mountain somewhere. When E pull tabs and smoking fails even more than it already does will that mean they are gonna come rape my wallet for more?? Maybe we could strap Ziggy to the first cruise missile inbound for Tehran.

I don't blame Ziggy one teeny tiny bit for this. I stick the blame squarely on the governor and all the elected officials for not adequately researching where Ziggy's portion of the stadium funding is coming from. This is 100% on them, and was 100% preventable. Did you notice how it wasn't until the lawsuit in NJ came up, that they actually took a look at where Ziggy's money was coming from for the stadium? Until then, they had ZERO clue.

Who, in their right mind, would turn down an extra $100mil? I sure as heck wouldn't, nor would anyone else.

The E pull tabs aren't the fault of Ziggy, either. Again, those same elected officials have 100% of the blame. They took the word (and numbers) of the company selling the machines, without doing any research of their own. It isn't those elected officials on the hook, it is the taxpayers of MN.

I have no issue with people being angry about this stadium, but at least make sure the anger is directed to the proper people.

[countyline]

[Big Dave2]

What a fricken joke. I hope that billionaire SOB crashes into a mountain somewhere. When E pull tabs and smoking fails even more than it already does will that mean they are gonna come rape my wallet for more?? Maybe we could strap Ziggy to the first cruise missile inbound for Tehran.

Another classy post by BuckSutherland.

[LABS4ME]

anybody else do the math?

8.5 mil lease paid over 30 years is 255 million... hmmmm and the state is paying 348 million towards it. So the 'people' are on the hook for another 100 million.

1.5 mil in capital improvements over 30 years is 45 million. Wanna bet after 10-15 years a major 200 million upgrade will be needed?

It just keeps getting better over there in MN!!!

Good Luck!

Ken

[Scott K]

I am not fond of the design, and think it will be a major failure, whether it is from heavy snow on the glass roof, the extreme cold from outside, and heat from the inside, heat rises, 70 on the field could mean 95 on the ceiling, or from hundreds of dead birds dieng from hitting the glass, and the animal activist making a big deal of it. I personally think unless they make this thing a removable roof, they will be complaining of it down the road. I think parking will be 10x worse then it is now, and I also think it is dumb not to have a large tailgating area right next to the stadium. I have to admit, going to the Lambeau games is a much better experience then going to games at the Dome. Although I really liked KC games, that is a nice stadium, but they also have the climate for it as well.

Minor renovations will happen regardless, it will need to be upkept, and updated, more then likely 100-150 million after 20 years sounds about right. All stadiums get them, so it isnt unique to the Vikings. I can recall a couple updated to the Packers stadium in the past 10 years.

[LABS4ME]

100-150 million after 20 years sounds about right. All stadiums get them, so it isnt unique to the Vikings. I can recall a couple updated to the Packers stadium in the past 10 years.

Mostly paid for voluntarily by fans buying worthless stock certificates...

Make the Wilf's lease either pay for the entire State portion over 30 years or, at least put enough into the capital improvements fund to actually make a difference when the time for the updates comes.

This was a not so well thought out deal. I think the lease could have been the 10 mil needed to get the money back over the life of the stadium.

Good luck!

Ken

[Musky Buck]

Everyone I know which is maybe 15 season ticket seats, they're all done now. No big deal really.

[Scott K]

I think the Minneapolis Sports facility is the ones to pony up for the updates, and cover upkeep if I remember correctly, I dont think it is dumped on to the state, just the city. But the city will also rent it out for other venues, in order to get their money back. If they utilize it correctly, it wont be such a losing deal.

Dont get me wrong, I think the public got the shaft on this deal, but I also think it could have been more costly if they would have moved out from down town. Then the state would of had to invest in better roads to get to it. Which I would have preferred it to be in a more open area, with room to have open air parking for tailgating. Down town already has to many people.

I am not going to let it bother me either way, the amount that comes out of my pocket for them building a new stadium isnt much at all, less then $100 over the course of 30 years, I wont let that cause any sleepless nights.

As for the seat fee's, dont like it, dont pay it, and dont go. I know for a fact I wont be buying season tickets, so it wont bother me. Then again, I wouldnt have bought any if there wasnt a seat fee. Until the team can show they have a worth while product to watch, they will be just something I will spend free time following, I wont change any plans for them. I was once a season ticket holder, from 98-2000, after two of the most heart breaking losses I can remember, one in 98, one in 2000, they really havent done squat since for me to spend a bunch of money to watch them. There are many more entertaining things I can spend a couple hundred bucks on then watching this football team lose.

[SkunkedAgain]

Developers of any kind ask for the moon and stars and then make politicians sweat until the get as much public money as they can. It's like blaming a terrible two year old for crying for more. Blame the parents for not saying "no."

If I were still a Viking season ticket holder, I would drop my tickets in a heartbeat. Luckily I did that years ago. What works against the Vikings is that they don't have a waiting list for season tickets. It makes it easy for current holders to drop their tickets if there is nobody standing in line to snatch them up