Following up on our last post on the MLS side of things, here is Vikings VP Lester Bagley with an update on where things stand with Major League Soccer from the Vikings' standpoint:
*On the team's interest: "We remain very interested in exploring the opportunity to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to Minneapolis and play in the new stadium, but to be honest that effort is somewhat on the backburner given the level of energy we're putting into the design, development and construction process right now.
But we think there is a market for it."
*On the financial outlay: "At some point, there will need to be an analysis of the investment because it would be a significant investment to secure the franchise – as much as $40 to $50 million."
*On a timetable for getting serious about pursuing MLS: "When we get through either the next three years or the bulk of the decisions and things stabilize a little bit, I think we'll turn our attention to that."
*On any similarities between Minneapolis and Seattle, where an MLS franchise is thriving in a football stadium: "We've talked to the ownership and management of the Seahawks and Sounders … just kind of preliminarily trying to understand how it all worked. I think there are some similarities in the markets in terms of size and the grassroots soccer that occurs in our market and the Seattle market."
