February 16, 2005
Around the NFL
In NFL stadium-grubbing news that actually involves teams other than the Jets:
- Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson's plan to finance a new Colts stadium with legalized slot machines died an ignoble death when the slot-machine legalization bill was killed by a state assembly committee. There are plenty of other stadium funding schemes floating around the Hoosier State, but as nobody seems to much like any of them, either, this could be it for the Colts for this legislative session.
- Speaking of states with lots of stadium-funding plans that nobody likes, the Minnesota Vikings have a new owner, football-player-turned-really-odd-investment-firm-owner Reggie Fowler. Gov. Tim Pawlenty welcomed Fowler by declaring that he didn't think the new owner would have any easier a time of it in stadium negotiations, while residents of Anoka County, the leading candidate to provide a Vikes stadium site, demanded a public referendum on spending public money on the project. I think a nice home-baked pie is more standard, but those Minnesotans do have their own funny traditions.
- It wasn't bad news for every NFL team today: The New York Giants are reportedly making progress in their negotiations for a mostly-privately-funded stadium in the Meadowlands, one that could be more lucrative if the Jets can be lured into joining in on the project, either as a partner or as a tenant. The Jets insist that they're still focused on getting their own $1.7 billion stadium in Manhattan, but the disbelief is getting a bit hard to suspend.
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