Forbes: Vikings team no more valuable -- yet -- with stadium deal

Posted at 3:54 PM on July 16, 2012 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Sports

How much more valuable are the Minnesota Vikings now that taxpayers have ponied up for a new football stadium for the team?

Enough to be rated the 41st most valuable sports team in the world, according to the survey from Forbes Magazine, which says:

Value: $796 million
Owner: Zygmunt Wilf

Zygi Wilf finally got his wish after a seven-year fight for a new stadium for the Vikings. The state Senate approved in May a $975 million stadium that the Vikings hope will be open for the 2016 season. The Vikings are the NFL are on the hook for $477 million of the cost, while the $498 million balance will come from the state and city of Minneapolis.

But the numbers don't add up. The $796 million valuation is the same value the magazine placed on the team last year, when it ranked the team #28 in the NFL. That's the same position it occupies this year.

And a year before that, it ranked the team #30 with a value of #774 million.

During the stadium debate, the comparatively low ranking of the team was cited often by stadium supporters. In today's survey of all sports teams, however, the team is ranked roughly the same as money-making operations like the Los Angeles Lakers.

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Comments (5)

And when the jobs and the economic boost promised by supporters (construction aside) don't come...
And when the fans start complaining about the cold...
And when the Vikings continue to be mediocre...
And when the NFL is shutdown for not doing more to prevent concussions...

Your welcome California, we in Minnesota have taken this bullet for you. Given the spate of Muni bankruptcies we were more able to take this on anyways.

Posted by matt | July 16, 2012 4:48 PM

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"Welcome for what?", California responds with much consternation. The muni bankruptcies have nothing to do with L. A., a city that actually has home-grown billionaires (plural) to fund its stadia. You have no idea how big the economy is out here compared to life on the prairie. Ever look at which states have the largest GDP's? It is your puny, loony populated state which cannot really afford the NFL. You don't have enough people there as paying customers, no matter how big Paul Bunyan may be alleged to be. We'll be stealing some other hapless NFL team. Consider yourselves lucky.

Posted by Rich | July 16, 2012 5:59 PM

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Hey matt - Rich is right, dude. Here at the beach we just cannibalize teams from other parts of the state. The Chargers will probably be moving about 117 miles due north.

And wasn't Forbes the same brilliant sports franchise analyst who once crowned Kevin McHale the best gm in the universe?

Posted by Jim Shapiro | July 16, 2012 6:51 PM

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As a homeowner (OK, us and the bank), each year we get a property tax statement that includes an estimated market value of the property. This, of course, is nothing more than a paper number that might--or might not--reflect what the actual value would be if we were to sell. Same thing for the Vikings.

I can dream of adding onto my home, but until the work is done, the value doesn't change. Not one shovel has been turned over yet for the new stadium. The estimated value of the team won't change much until that stadium is done.

Posted by John O. | July 17, 2012 5:01 AM

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// , but until the work is done, the value doesn't change

Actually, it does. It changes from year to year with you doing absolutely nothing but own it.

Posted by Bob Collins | July 17, 2012 7:08 AM

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