“When I think of Minnesota, I think of 3 things: Cold weather, the Vikings and the Mall of America. It’s the Vikings that keep me coming back. Not the cold weather and not the Mall.” – North Dakota Vikings Fan
The Minnesota Vikings are fortunate in that we have fans all over the country, and all over the world. We receive letters daily from fans in ND, SD, IA and WI that are concerned with the reality of losing the Minnesota Vikings. The fact of the matter is our out of state fans are a huge part of our fan base, and a huge part of our economy. During training camp, preseason, regular season and the playoffs we are inundated with fans from all over that come to Minnesota, stay in hotels, eat at our restaurants, and experience all of the arts, Mall of America and more.
Without a doubt this brings in money to Minnesota that we would not receive if the Vikings were not in Minnesota. Because of that, we feel out of state fans should have a voice in this matter too! Below is a pre-written letter that we ask you send to our Governor Tim Pawlenty. Please let him know that while you find the Mall of America, the Guthrie, and other Minnesota attractions great, it is the Minnesota Vikings that prompts your visits to our great state and with out the Vikings you would not spend your hard earned dollars here.
Simply copy the email below and click on the following link to open your email editor. Paste the letter into your email and please add your name at the bottom. It takes a few clicks, a few seconds and it doesn’t cost you a cent to make a positive impact on keeping the Vikings in Minnesota. Thank you for your support!
mailto:tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us
Letter to the Governor:
Honorable Mr. Pawlenty,
I am a member of a group that is often overlooked, yet is very important to Minnesota’s economy. I am an out-of-state Vikings fan.
Every year, I come to Minnesota to catch at least one Vikings game, sometimes more. My family and friends join me as well and we make a vacation out of it.
I’m telling you this because I thought you’d like to know we spend a lot of money in Minnesota. The hotels, restaurants, flights, rental cars, shopping trips all add up. Of course, we also visit places like the Guthrie, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Mall of America. But the one thing that brings us to Minnesota is the Vikings. Without the team, I doubt we’d make the trip nearly as often.
I’m sympathetic to the economic situation that your state finds itself in, and I assure you that we are feeling some of the same pains here. I understand how you might think this isn’t a great time to be talking about a stadium.
That said, I have made it a point to educate myself on the situation, and some creative solutions are being discussed that wouldn’t burden the taxpayers of Minnesota or exasperate your deficit situation. All these ideas should get explored in their entirety so that the team can stay in Minnesota for years to come.
Remember us out-of-state fans when you’re considering a Vikings stadium solution. Do your part to keep the Vikings Minnesota, and we’ll do our part to keep money flowing into your state.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
[Your Address Here]
[City, State, Zip]
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20,000 emails sent over the weekend. I would say it went great!
During the eRally, we recieved hundreds of fan letters as well. Having read through all of them, this one really stood out to me.
Take a look:
As a member of the US Army Reserves living in St Paul and currently deployed to Baghdad I can now say that if it were not for the MN Vikings and the NFL in general I would have gone crazy these last few months. As a die hard Vikings fan during the season it helps pass the time to talk to other fans of the Vikings or even argue with the enemy about why this is our year! In any case, the Vikings season has kept spirits up throughout this deployment and kept conversations going on what little downtime we do have. I’m sure the thousands of MN National Guard troops would agree – if it weren’t for the MINNESOTA Vikings, we wouldn’t be able to get that taste of home every Sunday/Monday (or Monday/Tuesday over here!). It helps those almost 7000 miles away feel at home and provide comfort. Who would want to take that away from the thousands of MN Vikings fans in the Military currently overseas? I know I wouldnt… Let’s get that new stadium and keep the Vikes going!
Notice how all of the experts mention the Saints offense first, the Vikings defense second, the Vikings offense third, and the Saints defense NEVER?
Something like this:
“Drew Brees is a prolific quarterback who will face challenges against a strong MN pass rush. Brett Favre and Adrian Peterson bring a dual-edged attack, but Reggie Bush can do anything he wants. NO offense is great and MN defense is great. MN offense is pretty good too, but remember how good the NO offense is?”
Ball control on offense (literally; don’t give the ball to NO) and the Vikings run all over the Saints. MN defense will get its stops, don’t know if the NO defense is strong enough to stop the MN offense. Gotta like the purple, especially if they can score early.
did anyone catch pawlenty’s comments on the new deck project in duluth??? sounds exactly what needs to be said of the minnesota vikings!!! IF YER GONNA REMAIN COMPETETIVE IN A MARKET THAT DEMANDS STATE OF THE ART FACILITIES,ITS IMPORTANT TO HAVE ONE OF THESE FACILITIES….IF WERE GONNA BE COMPETETIVE REGIONALLY AND NATIONALLY!!! PULL YER HEAD OUT YER KEESTER GOV. PAWLENTY!!!
At my local precinct caucus this evening a resolution was proposed to not allow public funding for a new stadium. Thankfully the resolution was not approved. It was a narrow margin but if the rest of the state follows it means half the state of Minnesota is for it. It takes less than half the state to fill a stadium. The writer of the resolution brought up some good points, namely the state of our economy. Pohlad got a stadium with less money down than Mr Wilf is planning on spending. The U got a stadium. The Vikings are the most popular team in Minnesota, we should get a new stadium.
Consider the loss of revenue, loss of jobs, (etc) that would happen if we lose the Vikings. The economic issues facing us are important but I should not have to give up my hobbies.
Thanks for posting Jean! We need Vikings fans to step up this election year and let their voices heard!
Great article Cory, I was at the game in N.O and have felt like someone has kicked me in the stomach over and over again since. That being said now is the most important time to ratchet up every email we can muster and get this thing done in 2010. TPaw has even recognized the importance of the Vikings and semi endorsed using a state lottery to fund the stadium, I use semi endorsed loosely because TPaw has no backbone and wont ink his name to any good stadium ideas. At least he is throwing some ideas out there though, lets flood the capital with emails and calls this month they cant ignore us all.
Nice piece. Remember that the first stadium at the Meadowlands was paid for with money from the racetrack as originally planned. In other words, there is precedent within the NFL for gambling money to pay for a stadium. And by the way, the new Giants/Jets stadium at the Meadowlands almost touches the first turn of the track.
The battle cry for the Racino should be “Why Not?” You guys obviously know the answer. And you’re right about putting it on the ballot. The tribes can buy the politicians, but they can’t buy the voters.
i got to admit that the 2008 season was my first year as being a season ticket holder and i first thought that there was nothing wrong with the dome. i think part of that was the excitement of being a first time season ticket holder. but as i attended the first preseason game against kc this past season, i looked around and couldn’t help but to think “what a dump this place is.” our stadium has only 2 decks, whereas most nfl stadiums have at 3. the video screen and our so-called “jumbotron” are relics at best. and that’s just a list of a few things that i find wrong with the dome. we need a new stadium but we need one with a retractable roof. that way we can someday host a superbowl and, (quite possibly), maybe a wrestlemania? just a suggestion.
I am a third generation devoted Vikings fan from Virginia with an entire extended family living in Minnesota. We spend thousands of dollars a year on the Vikings. I guess our money isn’t good enough, but it obviously will disappear if the Vikings leave. I have emailed Minnesota representatives to keep the Vikings in Minnesota and build the new stadium. I shared a similar story that I have just experienced where I am from:
Richmond, Virginia has had a top level farm team for the Atlanta Braves for many many years. I grew up going to those games and have many memories of wonderful times there. The Richmond Braves wanted and needed a new baseball stadium; however the elected officials of Virginia and the City of Richmond decided that it was not important enough to the economy and let the team go. Now, realizing they made a huge mistake, they have lost a beloved team, and have to spend millions more to recruit a new team, staff and build a new stadium than it would have cost in the beginning. They are struggling to reach the community to gain acceptance of “The Richmond Flying Squirrels” – dumb name. I would hate to see this happen in Minnesota. Although the Richmond Braves were not a professional team, they meant a lot to the community and brought a lot more revenue in than our elected officials could comprehend.