People are asking could the Minnesota Vikings really wind up
in Los Angeles? It’s doubtful but the people of Minnesota shouldn’t get too
cocky. If the Vikings don’t get a new stadium then a move to L.A. is a very
real option.
Especially if the people of Minnesota remember the last time
they had a franchise leave their great state. The Minnesota Lakers moved to
L.A. and are now one of the most storied franchises in the NBA.
The NFL has used the L.A. threat to help numerous franchises
get stadiums built over the years but Minnesota has already been burned before
by a franchise leaving for the bright lights of Hollywood. The threat of losing
another talented team to the state of California would be a catastrophe.
Still, funding a new stadium is a hard sale when you
consider how poorly the Vikings played last year. The Vikings went 3-13 last
season and ended the year with the third worst record in the league.
Many of those losses were close. The Vikings could have just
as easily gone 11-5 last year when you consider that eight of their 13 losses
were by six points or less but things will be a whole lot worse if they allow
the Vikings to leave town.
The Cleveland Browns lost their franchise and look at how things
are in Cleveland right now. Sure they were awarded another franchise later on
but their first franchise became the Baltimore Ravens and ended up winning a
championship five years after they left Ohio.
Meanwhile the “new” Cleveland Browns have only had two
winning seasons in the 13 years they have been in the league.
Which sounds a lot like the situation with the Lakers and
the Minnesota Timberwolves. Although it took the Lakers 12 years to win a
championship after leaving Minnesota, they did go to the NBA Finals nine of
those 12 years. They just weren’t able to get over the hump the first eight
trips.
Still, the Lakers have won 11 championships since leaving
Minnesota back in 1960. Five of those have come since Minnesota was awarded its
new basketball franchise in 1989 and the Lakers have been to the Finals on
three other occasions since that time.
So losing the Vikings may not be that painful. Even the
prospect of losing another franchise to the city of Los Angeles may not be all
that bad but watching another team you helped build go somewhere else and win a
championship? That would be downright
heartbreaking.
Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He is also a Sports Reporter for Pro Sports Lives. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.
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