The not so surprising word out of Los Angeles is that the purportedly "done deal" of a new NFL-ready football stadium in downtown Los Angeles apparently is not so done. As a fiscal matter, that ought to shock nobody outside of those eagerly standing in line to swallow the constant swill that the NFL and its ownership partners have been dishing out in attempts to garner team owners lucrative, publicly funded stadiums; Los Angeles, like the rest of the State of California, is in a financial mess and spending hundreds of millions on a new stadium is unlikely to do much to change that for the better.
The citizens of Los Angeles seemingly finally understand the illogic of the Anschutz-proposed stadium deal, however, and are beginning to make clear that, in this financial climate, real, rather than fanciful, financial decisions ought finally to prevail. That means no stadium deal on the public dime--certainly not without a team committing to sharing team revenues with the party footing the bills.
While Los Angeles undergoes its epiphany, the people of Minnesota are looking more and more like the people of Los Angeles, pre-epiphany. On Thursday, Minnesota DFL Governor Mark Dayton acquiesced to what the Republican-led state legislature essentially offered on June 30 as a new state budget. This, after two weeks of a state shutdown that kept "essential" services flowing while cutting off many state revenue streams.
Not satisfied with their inability to hammer out a budget deal by the state mandated deadline--but, as in the case of many legislators, perfectly willing to accept overtime pay as compensation for this inability--the Governor and Legislature offered a proposal that yet again balances the state budget by borrowing from the future, with the cornerstone of the deal a tradeoff of a portion of the tobacco settlement money today for future money from the fund. It is, of course, a dramatic loss for all who live beyond today and who will not have the luxury of selling off future assets to cover debts created earlier. In short, it is the height of fiscal irresponsibility.
Considering the move that legislators and the Governor have made to mortgage Minnesota's future without resolving underlying budget issues, it is no small wonder that the brethren of those same people, those serving Ramsey County, are proposing a similarly dysfunctional spending spree, without meaningful evidence of necessary public revenue streams, to build the Vikings a new stadium in Arden Hills.
Ramsey County's decision, of course, came against the backdrop of not one but two proposed LA-area, NFL-ready football stadiums. This, despite much evidence strongly suggesting the unlikelihood of either deal actually going through in the near term and further suggesting that the NFL is unlikely to allow an NFL team to relocate to LA--and that the Wilf's are, in any case, a highly unlikely relocation animal, given the limited return on relocating versus staying in Minnesota.
With LA seemingly set to pull the plug even on discussions about a publicly funded NFL-ready stadium, one ought to expect the entire Ramsey County stadium deal to undergo thorough reconsideration, if not outright rejection. That's what one would have expected of a state once lauded for balancing present and future interests and making wise decisions for its residents. If yesterday's budget deal is any indication, however, the Vikings ought to feel at least marginally comforted by the possibility that Minnesota is attempting to assume California's moniker--"only in."
Up Next: Favre's Interest Ought to Peak Vikings' Sensibilities.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Friday, June 03, 2011
Vikings Give Nod to Ponder
When the Minnesota Vikings selected quarterback Christian Ponder in the first round of this year's NFL draft, Vikings' head coach Leslie Frazier stated that the selection had no bearing on who would be the team's starter in 2011 and that the competition for the position remained "an open one." If common sense were not enough to tell you that this is not the Vikings' plan, this week's events ought to.
Having used a high first-round draft pick to select Ponder, the Vikings left themselves only two meaningful options at quarterback in 2011. One option is to sign a veteran quarterback to hold the position while Ponder learns the playbook and gets up to speed on the speed and designs of the NFL. The other is immediately to throw Ponder into the fire.
Neither option is very appealing for a team half-filled with aging stars and laden with a weak offensive. But, given the high-draft pick invested in Ponder, both options are far more sensible--save for considerations of Webb's talent that the Vikings clearly have no interest in--than starting Webb. For starting Webb only opens the Vikings up to criticism for using this year's pick on Ponder, should Webb, as one ought to expect, perform well at quarterback. No doubt, the Vikings have no interest in treading down that path.
This week's events only further laid bare the Vikings' true intentions regarding Ponder, however. At the outset of the week, the Vikings leaked that Ponder was orchestrating a mini-camp of his own to include several veterans--most notably, Percy Harvin and Sidney Rice. The leak was intended to demonstrate that Ponder had both the ear of veterans and the work ethic of an already entrenched NFL quarterback. That was to have been the springboard for the Vikings' Fall decision to give Ponder the nod at starting quarterback.
Of course, the entire episode was orchestrated by the Vikings and was not instigated by Ponder, who, nevertheless, undoubtedly welcomed the opportunity to step into the starter's role without ever competing for the position on the field. But the affair backfired when key veterans--Harvin, Rice, and Berrian, if Berrian can be considered a "key" anything--opted out of the mini-camp, leaving Ponder essentially to work out with rookies.
The situation became more embarrassing for the Vikings and Ponder when Ponder revealed that he had access to a limited version of new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave's playbook for 2011--access that Webb apparently was not afforded.
The result of the Ponder mini-camp was to leave the Vikings appearing obsessed with demonstrating Ponder's leadership abilities, an attribute clearly intended as early justification for granting Ponder a leg up on Webb in the starting quarterback race while also justifying the team's failure, should it come to pass, for not signing a legitimate veteran quarterback to take over if and when Ponder shows he is not ready to start behind a shaky offensive line.
The Vikings have made their decision at quarterback for the long haul. There is no question that they believe that Ponder is the right player to lead the team. But force-feeding Ponder as leader to the fans smacks too much of former coach Brad Childress' obsession with foisting upon the fans Tarvaris Jackson and not enough of the new, low-key professionalism that was to have been the Frazier regime. For Vikings' fans, the hope is that the result at least differs this time.
Up Next: Barnum Would Have Loved Ramsey County.
Having used a high first-round draft pick to select Ponder, the Vikings left themselves only two meaningful options at quarterback in 2011. One option is to sign a veteran quarterback to hold the position while Ponder learns the playbook and gets up to speed on the speed and designs of the NFL. The other is immediately to throw Ponder into the fire.
Neither option is very appealing for a team half-filled with aging stars and laden with a weak offensive. But, given the high-draft pick invested in Ponder, both options are far more sensible--save for considerations of Webb's talent that the Vikings clearly have no interest in--than starting Webb. For starting Webb only opens the Vikings up to criticism for using this year's pick on Ponder, should Webb, as one ought to expect, perform well at quarterback. No doubt, the Vikings have no interest in treading down that path.
This week's events only further laid bare the Vikings' true intentions regarding Ponder, however. At the outset of the week, the Vikings leaked that Ponder was orchestrating a mini-camp of his own to include several veterans--most notably, Percy Harvin and Sidney Rice. The leak was intended to demonstrate that Ponder had both the ear of veterans and the work ethic of an already entrenched NFL quarterback. That was to have been the springboard for the Vikings' Fall decision to give Ponder the nod at starting quarterback.
Of course, the entire episode was orchestrated by the Vikings and was not instigated by Ponder, who, nevertheless, undoubtedly welcomed the opportunity to step into the starter's role without ever competing for the position on the field. But the affair backfired when key veterans--Harvin, Rice, and Berrian, if Berrian can be considered a "key" anything--opted out of the mini-camp, leaving Ponder essentially to work out with rookies.
The situation became more embarrassing for the Vikings and Ponder when Ponder revealed that he had access to a limited version of new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave's playbook for 2011--access that Webb apparently was not afforded.
The result of the Ponder mini-camp was to leave the Vikings appearing obsessed with demonstrating Ponder's leadership abilities, an attribute clearly intended as early justification for granting Ponder a leg up on Webb in the starting quarterback race while also justifying the team's failure, should it come to pass, for not signing a legitimate veteran quarterback to take over if and when Ponder shows he is not ready to start behind a shaky offensive line.
The Vikings have made their decision at quarterback for the long haul. There is no question that they believe that Ponder is the right player to lead the team. But force-feeding Ponder as leader to the fans smacks too much of former coach Brad Childress' obsession with foisting upon the fans Tarvaris Jackson and not enough of the new, low-key professionalism that was to have been the Frazier regime. For Vikings' fans, the hope is that the result at least differs this time.
Up Next: Barnum Would Have Loved Ramsey County.
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