Yesterday I saw a headline that said that 99% of All Football Players have CTE. I read the story, then put the content in my memory bank for an article I was working on about the Minnesota Vikings. So today I couldn't remember the source and went back to ESPN thinking it was them. It wasn't there. Hmmm. The NFL's business partner missed that content?
I googled - 99% of All Football Players have CTE.
First 6 entries, in order:
CNN
USA Today
Quartz
New York Daily News
UK Daily Mail
NBC Sports
Kudos for NBC, home of Sunday Night Football, for covering the story, but broadcast partners Fox, ESPN, and CBS were all conspicuously absent in my search.
Searching a little more, maybe those outlets were behind the curve, I found more stories on the first page of my search from:
Forbes
RT
Daily Beast
Sports Illustrated
Business Insider
The story I had read was the one over at the USA Today, but again, somehow there seemed to be an interest in the NFL's partners not reporting, or underpromoting, the critical NFL news.
That wasn't even the point of my story. While I was on vacation, the Minnesota Vikings announced that they would no longer hold training camp in Mankato, Minnesota. Bunch of old sports reporters from Minneapolis-St. Paul whined that they had to drive "an hour and a half drive to Mankato." Sorry to put out all you Twin City slickers. Training camp in Mankato was a 52 year old tradition that pumped millions into the Mankato economy. There was no drumbeat from Mankato not to host the Vikings, with lots of buzzwords coming from the Vikings as to why they'll be moving. The one that kept coming up was Logistics. Future training camps will be in suburban Minneapolis with the promise of bigger, more accessible crowds.
So since the Vikings are a corporation, citing logistics, let's be critical of the Minnesota Vikings, in a business sense. If I made a list of problems with the Minnesota Vikings, 1-100, where would Training Camp in Mankato be on the list? I bet that it wouldn't be on the list at all. If I made a different list of new, potential local revenue streams while ignoring loyal fans, 1-100, where would replace Training Camp in Mankato be? Probably in the Top 3.
I already know what happened behind closed doors:
Suit 1 - We have a new facility in Eagan. Let's move training camp there, save money on transportation costs, and potentially accommodate thousands of more paying fans.
Suit 2 - Downside, downside anyone?
Me - What about the loyal fans of Southern Minnesota?
Suit 1/Suit 2- Who?
Suit 1 - Okay, okay. I got a solution that will make everyone happy. We get to move the Vikings, which is our right. Minnesota State has been a great partner for 50 years, so... um... everyone gets a Commemorative Poster. Every fan visiting Vikings Village will receive a free commemorative poster that celebrates the past 52 years. The Vikings ticket office will distribute the posters from its booth as fans enter camp. (Directly from KARE 11 News)
At the end of the day, Mankato has no leverage and business is business. Thanks for your time.
All Mankato did was bend over backwards for the honor of hosting the Vikings, and all the Vikings did was try to leverage better deals for the past 10 years. I'm glad the Vikings solved a problem that didn't exist.
As for sports in Mankato, other than the NCAA Hockey Team, I would say that Vikings Camp was the biggest sports story in town. Which circles us back to the beginning of this story. NFL teams don't view cities (or players) as partners. Their partners are the Corporations that PAY them. Every CTE story seems to coincide with other ways that the NFL is alienating its fan base.
The Author coincidentally wearing his 1997 Brad Johnson Jersey while he writes.
You think I'm bitter? This article is even better than mine: Maybe MSU Should Make the First Move.