Vikings vs. Giants Game In Detroit Shortchanges Minnesota Fans and Economy

The NFL, as we all know, is a big business. It's all about money for the owners, coaches, players and everyone else associated with the game.

The decision that was made to move the Vikings-Giants game from the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis to Ford Field in Detroit, however, shortchanges Minnesota fans. They are being robbed of a home game at a time the team needs its fans to have any chance at all of making the playoffs.

More importantly, however, Detroit will be the beneficiary of all of the economic impact a home NFL game has on a city. Minneapolis was planning on having stores, restaurants and hotels full this weekend. Now, they will be empty as their team is being forced to travel 700 miles to an unfamiliar venue to play what was supposed to be a home game.

About the only good thing for Minnesota, if you can call it that, is that the extra time will allow quarterback Brett Favre to heal more, insuring that he can add to his NFL-record 297 starts he has in his career. It looks like he may be able to finish his career with 300 or more consecutive starts, a feat that will probably never be equaled.

The NFL stated that the Giants didn't bring equipment for an outdoor game, which was the reason given necessitating a move to another domed stadium. Can it be that in our age of instant travel and deliveries that they couldn't have had the equipment shipped today in time for arrival tomorrow night?

If not, couldn't such equipment be banned on the Minnesota sideline and the game still be played at the University of Minnesota's outdoor field? What happened to the toughness of players such as those that played in the Ice Bowl when Bud Grant used to roam the Viking sidelines?

Political correctness has gone amok in professional sports. We are too concerned with equalizing everything for everyone. The NFL has become one of the most Communistic organizations in the world, sharing everything equally no matter how good or bad their team is, a socialistic view in the midst of the capitalism of free enterprise in which everyone wants their piece of the economic pie.

The bottom line is that the fans are the ones that get shortchanged. How many of the Vikings' season ticket holders can afford to miss two days of work to attend a Monday night game that is more than a day's drive away from home in today's economy with Christmas on the way?

How will they find seats with their tickets they've already purchased? How much more will they have to pay for parking when they already paid once for a parking place at the Metrodome for the season?

The game has become a logistical nightmare for both teams. The solution the NFL has come up with has negated any home field advantage the Vikings might have. It's 75 miles closer from Detroit to New York City, the Giants' home, than it is to Minneapolis.

How many more Giants fans will now fly from NYC to Detroit for tomorrow night's game? Is the league doing too much to help the visiting team, which had its plane diverted to Kansas City yesterday?

A far better resolution would have been to delay the game to Tuesday or Wednesday night and see if they could get the Metrodome roof repaired in that length of time. It would be no more than the short week teams now have from Sunday to Thursday to have it either of those nights. With all of our technological know-how, would that have been too tough to do?