Column: What’s going on in the NFL?

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, July 20, 2005

I am a fan of the National Football League.

I have been for years and I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon.

However, when I read things like I did over the weekend where the Minnesota Vikings are going to begin to charge admission to training camp my love for the sport is tested.

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I do not cover the national sports scene on a daily basis, but I would like to think that I keep up rather well on what is going on, and I see this as just one more example in a long line of disturbing events in the NFL.

Charging fans $5 for training camp events Sunday through Friday and $10 on Saturday makes very little sense to me.

In a time of ever escalating ticket prices it would seem to me that letting fans attend training camp for free was a very small price to pay in July before you start asking for very significant sums of money come September for simple things like hot dogs and foam fingers.

While I said that charging fans doesn’t make sense to me on a personal level, I understand why it is being done.

Minnesota State University, Mankato says that it needs to offset some of the cost that comes with hosting the team during training camp which begins July 29, and this is one of the most effective ways it sees to do this.

It is not like the Vikings are the first organization to have a pay to see training camp policy because I remember the uproar that went on in Washington when Redskin owner Daniel Snyder did the same thing a few years ago.

But just because you are following in what others have done before you doesn’t make it right.

One of the perks of working at the Albert Lea Tribune is the fact that I would have a chance to go to Mankato and attend a day of training camp.

Having to pay five dollars to do so may not be a deal breaker, but it still sours my opinion of the experience before I even get in the car to go.

Asking a family of four to spend $40 dollars plus two dollars to park just to watch its favorite team practice can be a hard pill to swallow.

This is just the latest example of increasing dollar signs in this sport.

Athletes make it a yearly routine to threaten holdouts over contract squabbles like Philadelphia’s Terrell Owens is currently going through as he now looks at his seven-year $49 million contract as inadequate after just one season.

Owners also get into the act as ticket prices at most stadiums continue to rise, and the price to simply park your car can be enough of a deterrent from attending a game.

Just the other day, I heard that privilege at New England’s Gillette Stadium will cost you $35.

Should you decide that all of this is too much to spend and favor a Sunday on the couch watching your favorite team in the comfort of your own home that can be no bargain as well.

If your favorite team resides outside your viewing area the best bet to make sure you will see them would be to purchase NFL Sunday Ticket, but that is going to cost you over $220 for the season.

All of that tells me while there appears to be a lot of greed shining through at this time, but it is not exclusive to one group, person or team.

I would like to see things become cheaper and easier for the average fan to attend without breaking the bank.

It is a cycle that will continue until someone or something with enough power stands up and says enough.

Something like the recently lost NHL season usually goes a long way to fixing those problems.

But even that is costly and unpleasant for so many.

In a world where bigger is usually considered better it is issues like paying to watch training camp that make me appreciate why I work where I do.

There may not be as much glamour attached to working for smaller newspapers, but at least I know that during the high school sports season I will have the chance to watch athletes who are playing the game for the right reasons and putting the passion into it without having to ask for millions of dollars to do so.

(Jeff Budlong, Sports Editor)