I had the great fortune today of having lunch with the owner of the Minnesota Vikings professional football club, Mr. Zygi Wilf. Mr. Wilf was the guest of the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce today. He spoke at the Chamber’s monthly membership luncheon. I sat with him at one of the head tables today.
That’s Councilmember Brad Aho on the left, Councilmember Phil Young in the middle, and Wilf family member Lenny Wilf on the right. Lenny is Zygi’s cousin. He is also involved in the Vikings’ ownership group.
The only Mr. Wilf I did not get a photo of was Mark Wilf. Mark is Zygi’s younger brother. Mark is the President of the Vikings. Here’s a shot of the City’s Economic Development Manager David Lindahl and I planting a few seeds with Zygi for what might replace the Vikings’ corporate offices here in Eden Prairie if (and when) the Vikings move those offices to the site of a new stadium in Anoka County someday.
I am glad that we were finally able to meet Mr. Wilf. We’ve been trying to get a meeting with him and his family since his purchase of the team was approved by the NFL earlier this year. The Vikings call Eden Prairie home and I thought it was important that we get to know the owner of one of our community’s more high profile businesses. We got to accomplish that today, so that’s good.
We are aware that the Vikings are pursuing a new stadium in Anoka County. Anoka County has generously pledged $280,000,000 in public dollars toward the construction of the stadium. Mr. Wilf is planning to match that. We started to play the stadium game in 2004, but decided to drop out when the price to play got too high. I’m OK with that now. I will hate to lose the Vikings from Eden Prairie, but I would hate even more to take tax dollars from Eden Prairie citizens and put them into a professional football stadium project in Eden Prairie. I think we made the right choice in that regard.
