Jeff is certainly right that Reggie Fowler and his reputation is very much in question. The fact that this guy even had a "rough draft" of his personal bio with inaccuracies, nay, out and out lies, on it, definitely sheds a very bleak light on who, or what, this guy is all about.
Even if the NFL and its owners scrutinize over his personal and business finances and find out that he is, indeed, financially capable of owning an NFL franchise, with the recent findings about his bio, is this really the kind of guy that the NFL wants owning a franchise? And more so, is this the kind of guy that the people of Minnesota want owning the Vikings?
Unfortunately the people of Minnesota don't get to choose, otherwise I wonder if Fowler might have already been thrown under the rug and the name of Glen Taylor brought up once again.
The problem lies with Red McCombs. Here's a guy who bought a franchise within the most coveted of pro sports leagues at a rock-bottom, dirt cheap price. He got the team at such a low rate, compared to other NFL teams, because of the Metrodome and the revenue, or lack thereof, that is can produce. He then turned around and complained that he needed a new stadium because he couldn't make any money with the Dome. When the people of Minnesota reminded him that he got the team so cheap and it should have been implied that he use the money he saved to put up a new stadium, he told them they were crazy, and decided to sell.
Hey Red, here's a car analogy an old used car salesman like you can understand: you can't buy a car with hail damage with a cheap price tag and then expect somebody else to fix it at no cost to you.
Red thinks he's held hostage by the Dome, when in fact he put the lock on his own hands when he bought the team. And therein lies the rub for regular folks like you and I. We are now held hostage by a rich man who doesn't understand the true meaning of a good deal.
And so Red spent his time in Minnesota running things as cheap as possible. Cheap coaching staff, cheap team. But now that Red wants to sell the team, is he looking to sell it cheap? Certainly not. That hail damaged car has a price tag on it that is not one red cent under the blue book value.
Enter: Reggie Fowler. He wants to buy this hail damaged car so badly, and Red wants to get rid of it so badly, that as long as Fowler has the money to buy, Red is ready to sell. Red doesn't care that Fowler has a tainted past as a business man. And just like he didn't give a single thought to how his dealings with the Vikings affected the people who paid the bills, the people of Minnesota, he doesn't care how Fowler's past, or future dealings as the potential owner of the team, might affect the team or the people surrounding it.
Red made it clear very early on that owning the Vikings wasn't about loving football, it was about business. He continued to make it clear during his entire time owning the team and now as he is trying to sell the team. And he is making it more clear than ever by trying to slip it past the other NFL owners that the guy he is trying to unload the team on might (allegedly) be more crooked than any used car salesman that has ever worked for him.
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Here's a quote from a Strib article I found interesting: "For baseball, where salaries are rising and a new stadium is expected to boost attendance, [state tax revenue] would be significant. For the Vikings, who already sell out almost every game and whose player salaries are largely capped, the potential tax growth is not as great."
I kind of feel like if anyone deserves a stadium, the team that's keeping player costs low and selling out their stadium should be privileged over the other. I think our only hope is that Fowler, as slimy as he seems to be, will think a Blaine stadium will make him lots of cheddar.
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