Sean Conboy’s article in this month’s Pittsburgh Magazine , “The NFL is Running a Billion-Dollar Con,” takes aim at the Minnesota Vikings new $975 million stadium as a prime example of the NFL’s plan to essentially rip off the public.
Conboy notes that public tax money has paid for 61 percent of all NFL stadiums built since 1923. The state of Minnesota and city of Minneapolis will pay for $498 million of the new venue — 51 percent of the total cost.
Conboy takes a hard shot at the Zygi Wilf family in the piece.
Vikings owner and real estate mogul Zygi Wilf is a crook and a fraud, at least in the eyes of the court of New Jersey. A judge in a civil suit filed against Wilf clan recently concluded that the family had spent years systematically defrauding its business partners out of millions of dollars.
The article boldly claims the Wilfs worked with the NFL to hold fans hostage by threatening to relocate the Vikings without approval for public funding of the stadium.
…the NFL coyly scheduled the Vikings to play a regular season game against the Steelers in London while simultaneously leaking statements to the media that they would love to see an NFL franchise across the pond.
As for those personal seat licenses the Vikings notified season ticket holders about earlier this month, Conboy believes it’s a simple plan the NFL uses to take even more from the public.
That man, a season-ticket holder, found out earlier this month that he will be forced to pay between $500 to $10,000 for a “personal seat license,” a completely imaginary fee made up out of thin air by NFL owners, that will line the pockets of Wilf’s ownership group with a cool $100 million.
