MINNEAPOLIS -- Construction crews have yet to break ground on the Vikings' new stadium, yet the team and the city of Minneapolis are already blazing a trail to help justify its creation.
And that means bringing championships -- events, not trophies -- to two towns that aren't at all used to them.
"We're bullish on the community," Vikings vice president of stadium development Lester Bagley told FOXSportsNorth.com on Monday. "This community has a lot to offer. The No. 1 thing that's been missing is a venue."
By the 2016 football season, it's scheduled to have one. Within five years of the structure's completion, team and city officials hope, it will provide the setting for some of America's marquee sporting events.
Just Monday, Vikings minority owner Mark Wilf made a pitch at the NFL owners' quarterly meeting for the 2018 Super Bowl, Bagley said. Minnesota is one of six current potential sites, and the NFL is expected to announce finalists for the international holiday of football early this week.
On Sept. 27, Meet Minneapolis submitted a formal bid for the 2017 college football national championship game. The convention and visitors association is currently working on a similar application for an NCAA basketball Final Four in the near future, according to Meet Minneapolis spokeswoman Kristen Montag.
All in hopes of fulfilling promises made to the city and state when the $975 million multi-use complex was introduced to the taxpayers helping fund it.
"It's a big part of what we've advocated for the past 10-plus years, that this multipurpose stadium will deliver international and national events," Bagley said. "We want to see that advocacy, that promise, fulfilled."
The Twin Cities are up against San Francisco's Levi's Stadium, San Antonio's Alamodome, southern Florida's Sun Life Stadium, Jacksonville, Fla.'s EverBank Field and Tampa Bay's Raymond James Stadium for the third college football title game under a four-team playoff format. The inaugural championship matchup will take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas following the 2014 season.
The 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick are expected to announce a decision on both the 2016 and 2017 title games sometime in November. The Vikings and the city are on pace to commence stadium construction that month, too.
According to a Bloomberg report, studies found that the 2010 national championship game at the Rose Bowl had an $82.4 million impact on the local economy. Meet Minneapolis officials estimate a $90 million impact for Minneapolis.
A Super Bowl would generate close to triple that. While Wilf -- the brother of principal Vikings owner Zygi Wilf -- pushed Monday specifically for Super Bowl LII in 2018, the team expects "we'll be playing a Super Bowl here in 2018, 2019 or 2020," Bagley said.
The biggest deterrent to bringing championship football or basketball to Minneapolis is, of course, the weather. It will take a fine sales job of the city's lodging, amenities and tourist activities to offset the fact thousands of travelers are likely to come into a snow-covered metropolitan area during the middle of winter.
But the Vikings' glass-enclosed, indoor facility is expected to help with that.
"The fan experience in our new stadium is going to be second to none, certainly one of the best in the NFL," Bagley said. "We've put a lot of sweat equity into this project, and we want fans from around the country to be able to experience that."
The city's Skyway, light-rail and snow removal systems are also key selling points, Montag said.
"When we put in a bid for an event, we outline all the things that we have that meet people's needs," she said. "The fact that we're going to have a great new stadium by then is a big draw, obviously because it's so new. But there's also a certain number of hotels, transportation and basic information that meets the needs for whoever we're bidding to.
"We know how to handle winter here."
Follow Phil Ervin on Twitter
