Vikings as hosts of Super Bowl LI?

Updated: May 11, 2012, 3:52 PM ET
By Kevin Seifert | ESPN.com

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Minnesota Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf are plowing ahead with stadium planning and other tasks, one day after the Minnesota State Legislature approved funding for a new $975 million facility.

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At the top of the Wilfs' list of priorities: Bidding to host the Super Bowl.

The stadium is scheduled to open for the 2016 season, and Mark Wilf said Friday he hopes the Super Bowl could return to Minneapolis as early as 2017.

"I know the Super Bowl process typically happens in the spring," Wilf said, "so potentially as soon as a year from now we could be a bidder. We haven't talked to officials about it yet, but we see no reason why we wouldn't be ripe to put in a bid for a Super Bowl, and we're hopeful and we'll do everything we can as owners to persuade our partners that it's a great community, and have a Super Bowl here hopefully as early as 2017."

Bidding is currently under way for Super Bowl L, which will be played in February 2016. That makes Super Bowl LI the first title game Minnesota could bid for.

Minnesota hosted Super Bowl XXVI in 1992, and bringing the game back to the state was one of the Wilfs' key selling points in the stadium campaign that concluded Thursday.

Kevin Seifert | email

NFL
  • ESPN NFC North Blogger
  • Joined ESPN in 2008
  • Covered the Minnesota Vikings for the Minneapolis Star Tribune for eight years

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