Vikings meet with LA developers
Well, that didn't take long.
Just a day after the Legislature adjourned without a stadium deal for the Vikings, team officials were meeting with representatives from AEG, the Los Angeles outfit that's proposed Farmer's Field in L.A.
They were spotted at a downtown Minneapolis hotel. It wasn't what you think, says Vikings vice president Lester Bagley.
The meeting was with former Timbervolves VP, and now AEG CEO Tim Leiweke. His company runs the Target Center, as well as a host of other venues. The company developed LA Live, a 4 million square foot, $2.5 billion dollar downtown LA sports and entertainment complex.
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"The discussion about Los Angeles was about LA Live, that sports entertainment model that they created there," Bagley said of the meeting. "We're trying to re-create that type of energy at the Arden Hills development if we can."
Bagley said AEG might well be a candidate to do that in Arden Hills themselves -- bringing LA to the Vikings, as it were, rather than the other way around.
But AEG is also the developer behind Farmers Field, a proposed NFL venue in Los Angeles. The insurance company has reportedly offered $1 billion in naming fees if AEG can bring a pair of NFL teams to the stadium.
Bagley said that the Vikings aren't looking to sunnier climes, despite the lack of action on the deal the team struck with Ramsey County. He says he's still confident Minnesota lawmakers will address the Vikings situation once the budget battle is settled.