Fargo makes pitch for Vikings camp

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Cole Carley looked like he just scored the go-ahead touchdown.

But, he understood, it still is early in the game.

Carley met with five Minnesota Vikings officials Friday to lure the National Football League team's summer training camp to Fargo. Carley, the Fargo-Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director, said he was much more optimistic about the city's chances after the meeting than before.

"It still is a very long shot," he said, "but David did slay Goliath."

Carley spent an hour with Vikings brass, more than twice as long as he expected, in the team's Eden Prairie headquarters known as Winter Park.

Later in the day, officials from Sioux Falls, S.D., and Duluth made their own pitches. South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds was part of the Sioux Falls delegation.

Officials from Mankato, which has hosted the 18-day camp for 39 years, delivered their presentation Thursday.

Vikings officials solicited proposals for the camp after deciding it could become a money-making proposition.

Atop the Vikings' priorities are good facilities. Carley said Fargo meets more of the team's requirements than other cities, especially offering an enclosed practice area in the Fargodome.

Photos of North Dakota State University's facilities got the Vikings' attention, Carley said.

"They liked us more than we kind of expected," Carley said. "When I got to the weight room, it started to open eyes."

Carley delivered more detailed information to the team Friday afternoon and will wait to see if Fargo remains in the running. If so, Vikings officials will visit Fargo later this year.

The Vikings set the end of the year as their deadline for picking a city.

Mankato officials estimate the camp brings their city up to $3 million a year and 100,000 visitors.

"This is the biggest type of thing we have ever gone after," Carley said.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty continues to oppose moving the camp outside of Minnesota. He said that would be "a horrendous public relations misstep" and a "momentum killer" in the Vikings' attempt to get state aid for a new stadium.

The Vikings want to make $500,000 from the camp and seek a more festival-like atmosphere, the governor told reporters Friday. "We hope both of those goals can be accommodated in Minnesota."

In his presentation, Carley admitted there are political ramifications of moving the camp to Fargo. But he also suggested that Moorhead could be used, too, perhaps for housing media and Vikings administrators.

Many of the Fargo-Moorhead proposal's details remain to be worked out, especially those dealing with finances.

Currently, the plan calls for housing athletes in NDSU's Pavek Hall dormitory. Meeting rooms in the Memorial Student Union and other nearby buildings would be available.

The Dacotah Field area could be used by fans, Carley said.

Facilities on the Vikings' wish list are within a short walking distance of each other.

One of the Vikings' complaints in Mankato was lack of air conditioning in some buildings. All indoor areas they would use at NDSU are air-conditioned.

Carley said even if Fargo does not get the Vikings' bid, there was at least one good outcome: "We succeeded in the way I wanted to succeed -- we made them sit up and take notice."

Readers can reach Forum reporter Don Davis at (651) 290-0707