Apparently the Wilf family is willing to spend as much money as necessary to make their football stadium the best in the NFL.
It was reported Feb. 16 in this column that the Wilfs, after having contributed an additional $2.4 million to the new Vikings stadium for material costs, would have to add $22 million more in the near future, because of rising construction prices.
Well, after some negotiations by Mortenson Construction, the Wilfs wrote a check of $19.5 million so that their new stadium will be able to include all the features they want it to have. According to the team, these features include plaza enhancements, food service equipment, seat upgrades and a deck facing downtown Minneapolis.
And it might not be the last check the Vikings owners have to write, as the stadium is only about 50 percent complete, and Zygi Wilf and his family plan to keep with their original plans.
They now have put up $74 million extra, making their contribution $551 million of the total stadium cost of $1.061 billion by the time the Vikings open play there in the 2016 season.
Look for the roof to be on the stadium by the end of November and for the glass on the north side of the stadium to be worked on in the near future.
Hails Kill
Nobody has the background and knowledge to do a better job analyzing college football than Gerry DiNardo, who was the coach at Vanderbilt, Louisiana State and Indiana before going into television, first for ESPN and since 2007 for the Big Ten Network.
Watching the Gophers in spring practice this past week, DiNardo said the program has never been in better hands.