Video: How seat licenses work
After a decade of negotiations, threats and promises, the Vikings showed Minnesota the money Thursday night. The team stacked up a subsidy from the NFL, a personal seat license plan and future naming rights to pay its $477 million share of the new stadium. And then Vikings owners kicked in another nine figures to seal the deal.
"The 100 million in equity is cash coming from the Wilfs, from the pockets of our owners," said Vikings Chief Financial Officer Steve Poppen.
As Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton had demanded, the team committed more of its own cash to the project in the end. That's money on top of the other revenues the Vikings earmarked to pay their 49 percent share of the 1 billion dollar stadium project.
But Vikings fans will have to put up, too. The state has agreed to sell $125 million in personal seat licenses on the team's behalf. The licenses will range in price from $500 to $10,000, although the average seat license will cost $2,500 each. And three out of four fans will have to buy a license in the 65,000 seat stadium. The licenses are one-time fees, that give buyers ownership of the seat. They're also commodities that can be traded or sold.
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