NFL: Minnesota Vikings Stock Sale 'Not Permitted'

The Minnesota Vikings stadium push got a creative new option Monday when Rep. Phyllis Kahn said she'll introduce legislation requiring the Vikings to sell 70 percent of the team via shares of stock, with a portion of the proceeds being used to pay for a new stadium.

She told the Star Tribune, “(Governor Mark) Dayton asked for all ideas to be put on the table and that’s exactly what I’m doing here,” Kahn said. “No single idea [for funding a new stadium] has gained enough traction to pass the Legislature.”

It turns out this idea won't work either. According to an NFL spokeman, public ownership of NFL teams is not an option.

“It is not permissible under our ownership policies,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told Pro Football Weekly. “There is no public ownership permitted.”

The Vikings rivals to the east, the Green Bay Packers, are the only NFL team that is publicly owned. The Packers are grandfathered in because they went to public ownership when league rules permitted it.