Eagan is ready to roll out the purple carpet for Vikings training camp

[purplefaithful]

Brent Cory, president and CEO of the Eagan Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the city’s hospitality community “plans to roll out the purple carpet.” 
“We’ve always thought of ourselves as a great community, but having the Vikings in town,” he said, “we’re truly going to be a world-class destination.” 
The Vikings entered the NFL as an expansion franchise in 1961, and their first four training camps were held at Bemidji State. The past 52 were at Minnesota State Mankato, which in recent years had about 60,000 people attending. 
Now, it’s Eagan’s turn. 
This year, the Vikings hope to reduce congestion by requiring tickets — most of which are free — to attend any of the open practices, and capping fan attendance at 5,000 a day, or 90,000 during the 18 days of camp. 
Lester Bagley, Vikings executive vice president of public affairs, said last week that about 75,000 tickets are gone. 
“We think that’s a modest number,” Bagley said of the daily cap. “We can probably get more in there, and as we evolve into the next year or two we probably will grow that.” 
https://www.twincities.com/2018/07/22/ea...ning-camp/

[Guest]

The O’Neills said they are relieved that the Vikings have personally told them they have no intention to privatize and rename any part of O’Neill Drive, where the team’s headquarters now sit. In the 1980s, the street was named after Tom O’Neill’s great-grandfather Robert O’Neill, who was on the first board of supervisors for Eagan Township when it was formed in 1860. 
“We’re actually a bit shocked about that,” Mary said of the team’s plan to keep the name. “And pleased. The team has been very responsive to our concerns.
Joe Retterath said noise from trucks entering and leaving the site have not harmed his prize-winning koi fish, which he raises as a hobby in his yard’s lush gardens and ponds. When construction began, he feared vibration from trucks and the work would spook the fish and they would bang against the sides of the ponds, get injured and die. 
But he said he still worries about anticipated noise and construction that will come when the team begins clearing wooded land closest to him this fall to get it ready for further development. Plans submitted to the city call for retail and office buildings. 
Meanwhile, the O’Neills and Retteraths said the neighborhood is on the team’s radar. 
“They want to get their fingers on this land,” Joe said. 
Jeff Anderson, the Vikings’ executive director of communications, confirmed last week that MV Eagan Ventures has expressed interest in buying the properties. 
That comes to no surprise to Mary O’Neill. 
“We’ve had multiple groups interested,” she said, “and they all say, ‘You want to get out of here before it gets too busy, don’t you?’ We know at some point we might have to go.”