Practice Field Envy

[*SHRacerX*]

I look at this like if I were to work at an office in a crazy cool building with a gym, rooftop lounge, modern design, outstanding cafeteria or just at an old building with a cramped desk like in "Office Space".

I have serious envy of this new facility.

From Peter King on PFT.com:


EAGEN, Minn. — In 1995, the Jacksonville Jaguars spent $121 million to build a shiny new stadium close to downtown, using some parts of the old Gator Bowl structure.

Some 23 years later, the Minnesota Vikings spent $140 million to build a training facility.

The Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center, a training and team office complex on the east side of Minneapolis, joins The Star (Dallas’ complex) as NFL training kingpins and overtakes Seattle’s beautiful facility on a lake south of downtown. It includes:

• Four grass practice fields (two heated), an 6,500-seat outdoor stadium where the Vikings can scrimmage and where local high schools are booking games, and an indoor facility with a ceiling high enough to avoid punts hitting it.

• A stand-up three-person Cryotherapy chamber, where players go for three-minute treatments to alleviate muscle pain and inflammation and improve blood flow. Some players, like tight end Kyle Rudolph, go twice a day.


The cafeteria menu at the TCO Performance Center. (Peter King/NBC Sports)
• A cafeteria that does not contain an ounce of junk. Last Wednesday, for lunch, you could have had a cup of pinto bean stew, and a plate of grilled Arctic char, bulgar lentil pilaf, grilled asparagus and a spinach/kale/beet salad.

• A outdoor sand pit for rehab and training for all leg injuries and leg fitness.

• A pool room. Here, there are three pools: a cold pool, a whirlpool, and a pool with a treadmill with a sort of elevator; the lower you’re dipped in the pool, the most energy you expend while running or walking on the treadmill. On the end are several more traditional single-person ice tubs.

• A draft room/personnel meeting room with rising auditorium seating that is so advanced that … well, I was shown the room off-the-record, so I can’t talk about the specifics. But it’s other-worldly. Very 2032.

One more thing: The locker room has fireplaces.

“I feel like there’s no place in the United States that has a facility so well-designed to take care of the players,” Rudolph told me. “No pro team. No college team—and college teams are in an arms race with those facilities they have. No national-team training center. Usually in the off-season I go to Newport Beach for six to eight weeks to work out and live. It’s 75 degrees. Every day’s perfect. But this year I stayed here.”

Where, presumably, every day was perfect inside this nirvana of a facility.

[Devils Advocate]

I think the bengals are missing the 20 yard line in one of their practice fields.

[Sled21]

Let's say for a minute MB decided to open the wallet and build such a facility. Is there even anywhere close to the stadium to put it, that would still allow parking for the stadium, or would it have to be somewhere else? (I moved from Cincy years ago, and am not that familiar with unused real estate around the banks.....)

[Millhouse]

(08-17-2018, 10:28 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Let's say for a minute MB decided to open the wallet and build such a facility. Is there even anywhere close to the stadium to put it, that would still allow parking for the stadium, or would it have to be somewhere else? (I moved from Cincy years ago, and am not that familiar with unused real estate around the banks.....)

Out in the Burbs would be ideal, but no, nothing immediately close to PBS though to build that. FC Cincinnati is building a practice facility near my neck of the woods, and will be playing games downtown area. So it can be done for a pro team in southwest Ohio to do such a thing. As another pro team up north has their practice facility in Berea, outside of Cleveland.

[*Go Cards*]

No practice field has always puzzled me.

[sandwedge]

Seattle does not not have a beautiful training center! The VMAC looks like a giant pole barn!
I guess I would starve if I ate at the Vikings training center, that menu looked like crap! Where's the damn cheeseburgers!

[3wt]

I'm speaking out of ignorance of the real facts, but it seems to me that if they would build a new bridge west of the Brent Spence that would allow for increased traffic flow from both sides of the river the Bengals could use the vacated space of the current bridge (and some) to put in a similar field/ facility.  

I like that what they have is right next to the stadium, the city and the river.  Increase the size of the field/fields and install as much of what they have in Minnesota in and around PBS.

I'm sure the tax payers would be delighted to pay for it

[Hoofhearted]

(08-17-2018, 11:18 AM)sandwedge Wrote: Seattle does not not have a beautiful training center! The VMAC  looks like a giant pole barn!
I guess I would starve if I ate at the Vikings training center, that menu looked like crap! Where's the damn cheeseburgers!

They avoid fatty cuts of meat before practice/game. 

[Hoofhearted]

(08-17-2018, 10:28 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Let's say for a minute MB decided to open the wallet and build such a facility. Is there even anywhere close to the stadium to put it, that would still allow parking for the stadium, or would it have to be somewhere else? (I moved from Cincy years ago, and am not that familiar with unused real estate around the banks.....)

Not really, which is probably the second biggest reason it hasn't happened yet. They would probably have to find an off-site location not as close to PBS as they'd like. But it's certainly doable if they invested in it. I'd love for them to come around sooner rather than later and get a state of the art practice facility... but we know that probably isn't going to happen 

[grampahol]

I've never been comfortable with the public as in tax payers funding such endeavors. Plenty of  people could care less about sports in general much less football  and these definitely are not essential services to public health and safety. If the  team and players want to fund them, fine, but don't ask someone with zero interest in sports to fork over part of their paycheck for your own personal interests. While I like sports and football if it went away tomorrow and completely vanished from the public mind my life wouldn't change one iota.. 
Sure, the case can be made for the jobs sports support, but there are many other things that can support jobs besides sports. 

[Sled21]

(08-17-2018, 12:35 PM)grampahol Wrote: I've never been comfortable with the public as in tax payers funding such endeavors. Plenty of  people could care less about sports in general much less football  and these definitely are not essential services to public health and safety. If the  team and players want to fund them, fine, but don't ask someone with zero interest in sports to fork over part of their paycheck for your own personal interests. While I like sports and football if it went away tomorrow and completely vanished from the public mind my life wouldn't change one iota.. 
Sure, the case can be made for the jobs sports support, but there are many other things that can support jobs besides sports. 

I'm not 100% in favor of taxpayers financing it either, I go back and forth. There is no denying many people could care less, but those same people also benefits from the revenue, jobs, and taxes these facilities bring to the city....

[*SHRacerX*]

I am predicting the Vikings will win a Super Bowl in the next three years. Free agents will absolutely want to be there, and the players they already have will be very happy with a facility like this. I consider that $140 million very well spent.

If I wanted to win, increase the VALUE of my franchise, and also get my community behind my team (as this would employ people and they could offer to share some of the rehab facilities with the Reds and FC Cincy).

Sure, someone would say "you are spending $140 million of someone else's money, of course you would do it", but as a business man I think the investment Jerry Jones made on his new stadium is more than compensated in the increased value of his franchise.

[J24]

(08-17-2018, 12:35 PM)grampahol Wrote: I've never been comfortable with the public as in tax payers funding such endeavors. Plenty of  people could care less about sports in general much less football  and these definitely are not essential services to public health and safety. If the  team and players want to fund them, fine, but don't ask someone with zero interest in sports to fork over part of their paycheck for your own personal interests. While I like sports and football if it went away tomorrow and completely vanished from the public mind my life wouldn't change one iota.. 
Sure, the case can be made for the jobs sports support, but there are many other things that can support jobs besides sports. 

The Owner has the money to spend on the facility.

[*SHRacerX*]

(08-17-2018, 01:37 PM)Jakeypoo Wrote: The Owner has the money to spend on the facility.

Agreed.  Maybe Katie and Troy would consider it after Mike's passing some day.

You could have Paul Brown Stadium and Mike Brown Practice Facility.

[fredtoast]

(08-17-2018, 01:37 PM)SHRacerX Wrote: Sure, someone would say "you are spending $140 million of someone else's money, of course you would do it", but as a business man I think the investment Jerry Jones made on his new stadium is more than compensated in the increased value of his franchise.

But his cheap practice facility got blown away in a windstorm and I think someone was even killed or seriously injured.

[Bengalzona]

(08-17-2018, 07:49 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: I look at this like if I were to work at an office in a crazy cool building with a gym, rooftop lounge, modern design, outstanding cafeteria or just at an old building with a cramped desk like in "Office Space".

I have serious envy of this new facility.

From Peter King on PFT.com:


EAGEN, Minn. — In 1995, the Jacksonville Jaguars spent $121 million to build a shiny new stadium close to downtown, using some parts of the old Gator Bowl structure.

Some 23 years later, the Minnesota Vikings spent $140 million to build a training facility.

The Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center, a training and team office complex on the east side of Minneapolis, joins The Star (Dallas’ complex) as NFL training kingpins and overtakes Seattle’s beautiful facility on a lake south of downtown. It includes:

• Four grass practice fields (two heated), an 6,500-seat outdoor stadium where the Vikings can scrimmage and where local high schools are booking games, and an indoor facility with a ceiling high enough to avoid punts hitting it.

• A stand-up three-person Cryotherapy chamber, where players go for three-minute treatments to alleviate muscle pain and inflammation and improve blood flow. Some players, like tight end Kyle Rudolph, go twice a day.


The cafeteria menu at the TCO Performance Center. (Peter King/NBC Sports)
• A cafeteria that does not contain an ounce of junk. Last Wednesday, for lunch, you could have had a cup of pinto bean stew, and a plate of grilled Arctic char, bulgar lentil pilaf, grilled asparagus and a spinach/kale/beet salad.

• A outdoor sand pit for rehab and training for all leg injuries and leg fitness.

• A pool room. Here, there are three pools: a cold pool, a whirlpool, and a pool with a treadmill with a sort of elevator; the lower you’re dipped in the pool, the most energy you expend while running or walking on the treadmill. On the end are several more traditional single-person ice tubs.

• A draft room/personnel meeting room with rising auditorium seating that is so advanced that … well, I was shown the room off-the-record, so I can’t talk about the specifics. But it’s other-worldly. Very 2032.

One more thing: The locker room has fireplaces.

“I feel like there’s no place in the United States that has a facility so well-designed to take care of the players,” Rudolph told me. “No pro team. No college team—and college teams are in an arms race with those facilities they have. No national-team training center. Usually in the off-season I go to Newport Beach for six to eight weeks to work out and live. It’s 75 degrees. Every day’s perfect. But this year I stayed here.”

Where, presumably, every day was perfect inside this nirvana of a facility.

The thread title made me gigle like Marvin because of the truth in it.

[XenoMorph]

(08-17-2018, 11:10 AM)Go Cards Wrote: No practice field has always puzzled me.

Plenty of team with them miss the playoffs every year...

But if they already have deal to use one near town... Why pay to build one even further away from the stadium

[Millhouse]

(08-17-2018, 01:37 PM)Jakeypoo Wrote: The Owner has the money to spend on the facility.

This is the same owner that used to drive a Lumina back in the 90s.

[J24]

(08-17-2018, 05:03 PM)Millhouse Wrote: This is the same owner that used to drive a Lumina back in the 90s.

I said he could afford it not that the cheap ass would actually  buy it.

[XenoMorph]

(08-17-2018, 05:03 PM)Millhouse Wrote: This is the same owner that used to drive a Lumina back in the 90s.

yep a damn shame to have an owner that gives back to the community instead of buying the newest model car each year...