Parsing the Vikings stadium deal continues now that the agreement has been approved by the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority and the 222-page document is being scrutinized.
On Tuesday, many details emerged in the form of an Associated Press report that highlighted – among other things – issues like naming rights, seat licenses and the so-called affordable seating.
Now ESPN is reporting on the “windfall clause” in the agreement, which addresses what happens should Mark and Zygi Wilf decide to sell the team at some point.
The good news is that there’s money in it for the public if that were to happen. The agreement calls for the city of Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota to get a quarter of the profits for any sale before 2022.
So, what would that be worth?
The Wilfs paid $600 million to buy the Vikings from Red McCombs in 2005, and Forbes estimated the team’s value at $1.007 billion in August, ESPN’s Ben Goessling notes. That means, if the team were sold today, the state would get about $100 million of the $400 million in Wilf profits.
And, of course, the team will certainly be worth more once it has a new venue to call home.
But breathe easy, Vikings fans – this doesn’t mean the team has to leave for the state to get some cash out of the deal, it just has to change hands. At the very least, it looks like the windfall clause will tie the team to that new stadium for quite some time.
And, don’t forget, as CBS reports, there is a 30-year lease agreement. So the team would likely stick around that long no matter who owns it.
