Minnesota Vikings fans could loss their team and be left out in the cold if Minnesota lawmakers don’t act fast.  That’s because the current Vikings owners are threatening to move the team to Los Angeles if they don’t get financial support and assurances to build a new stadium.

Things have gone so far that the NFL front office took action Friday by meeting with Minnesota lawmakers about the importance of approving financial backing for a new stadium.

“There is no ultimatum, but we did clearly talk about L.A. We did clearly talk about that [being] an open market,” Minnesota Sen. Julie Rosen said. “I do believe there is a feeling in some legislators and even in some folks throughout the state that they would never leave. So it was good to hear from the NFL, and from a very prominent owner, that they do have the right to move or be sold.”

Could it happen?
Yes it could.  In fact a precedence has already be set.  Back in 1984, Colts owner Jim Irsay, citing an antiquated and inadequent stadium in Baltimore, moved the team from Baltimore to it’s current location Indianapolis (Baltimore regained an NFL team – the Ravens – when the NFL expanded for the 1996 NFL season).

What are the odds the Vikings Will Move To LA?
Who knows? I mean the possibility exists, especially if current Vikings owner, Zygi Wilf,  sells the team (rumor has it he wants to sell the team).  If the team were sold, the new owners wouldn’t have a history in Minnesota and wouldn’t feel sentimental about leaving.  The owners would be buying the team to make money, and if that means moving the Viking to LA, they would do so.

I wonder if there is an NFL betting line on the Vikings moving?

What should NFL fans expect?
Minnesotans take great pride in their long NFL history.  We can expect that the lawmakers will feel the pressure of their constituents (who are also Vikings fans) and approve funding of a new stadium – otherwise they will be voted out of office.

Don’t forget, other NFL teams have used to same ploy (threatening to move the team) to get stadium improvements, tax credits and other benefits from the home state.

All in all, I really don’t see it happening.   The Vikings will stay in Minnesota.

What would it be like for the NFL (and football fans) to lose the Vikings – Packers and Vikings – Bears rivalries.

No way!

Visanthe Shiancoe of the Minnesota Vikings is having a breakout season at tight end for Minnesota. His national exposure is now at an all-time high.

Fox televised a clip of Vikings owner Zygi Wilf’s postgame locker-room speech after Sunday’s victory at Detroit, and Shiancoe was inadvertently shown naked in the background. He was wearing a towel that did little to cover him. The network apologized, but screen-grab images were all over the Internet.

Shiancoe wasn’t available to the media Monday, but he joked with a gossip columnist for the Star Tribune of Minneapolis about it. “How’d it look?” he told the newspaper.

But Shiancoe’s agent, Tony Agnone, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that his client was embarrassed and hopes fans understand it wasn’t intentional.

What do you expect to happen when you a TV camera into a men’s lockerroom.  There is no excuse and Visanthe is owed an apology from the TV crew.