Is this guy serious?

I don’t care if this is some sort of “Modest Proposal” (which it probably is), its perhaps the most idiotic thing written in the state of Minnesota this year, and I’ve written a lot of stupid stuff. What am I talking about? This opinion article at the hands of Chuck Chalberg, writing for the Star Tribune.
On the surface, it proposes to knock the less than excellent Gophers football team down to a different level, like Division II or the NAIA, rent facilities from schools like St. Thomas or just drop the program all together. Then, the vacant TCF Bank stadium would be available for the Vikings to move into. There are some obvious reasons why this would be foolish:
– The Gophers are, when compared to the other 119 teams, at least in the top half of all programs in the country.
– Taking a public facility, selling it at a discount to a private entity, then renting private facilities to the public entity is perhaps less cost effective than building a new stadium in the long run.
– Like it or not, athletics are the best advertising and after tuition, the best source of revenue that doesn’t come from a taxpayer. I know you laud the University of Chicago for dumping football, but, well, Minnesota has 40 THOUSAND more students. Chicago probably couldn’t fill out their stadium. Not even the crappy St. Thomas facilities you want to rent.
– Colleges aren’t about winning and losing when it comes to athletics. It’s a side business, there to make money. Perhaps you shouldn’t judge the U for their .500 record, but rather on their ability to thrive as an academic institution.

Like I said though, there is probably a deeper meaning than “The Gophers suck, give the Vikings their stadium!” The deeper meaning would be a question as to why the Gophers get a stadium and the Vikings don’t. This is an easy answer. A public institution is upgrading a facility that will in turn lead to greater revenue for said upgrade received the public funds. A private institution got turned down. It’s just smart finance to sink money into something that will earn you money directly
Think of it this way. If there were two proposals on the table in Victoria, one to build a new school gymnasium and another to build me a new house, which one do you think is going to get the funding? If I wanted a gymnasium instead of a house, it would be the same thing. A more fitting question would be why the Twins are getting a new stadium and the Vikings aren’t. Comparing it to TCF Bank Stadium is patently ridiculous.