Details of Favre's Contract Show Why Vikings Need New Stadium

In case you haven't heard, Brett Favre has signed with the Minnesota Vikings.

While it doesn't seem that Favre will see the second year of his reported two-year deal with the Vikings, you never know. What is certain is that Favre just isn't making a desperate plea for more cash. Reports that have surfaced about his contract make it clear that Favre didn't angle for money over anything else. They also show the financial strains that are currently on the Vikings organization.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has the details of Favre's arrangement with the Vikings.

Per a league source, Favre's $12 million base salary for the 2009 season will be paid out in three ways. He'll receive $4 million in the form of periodic paychecks during the upcoming season. He'll also receive lump sums of $4 million in March 2010 and another $4 million in 2011.

As Florio notes, this would indicate that the Vikings are having some issues with money. After all, why else would owner Zygi Wilf agree to pay Favre lump sums in 2010 and 2011, when Favre is (maybe) going to be back on his tractor and not playing football anymore? It doesn't make sense to do this kind of deal unless the Vikings have cash-flow problems.

This isn't unprecedented. When Wilf signed defensive end Jared Allen to a huge contract last year, he issued a cash call to his investors for some $20 million to help pay Allen's bonus. The Vikings are at the bottom of the NFL in terms of their overall revenue, so it's not a surprise they would struggle for extra cash to fund the football operation.

While all of this is going on, Wilf has made multiple pleas for help in building a new stadium for his team. The Metrodome lease, which the Vikings are obligated to through 2011, doesn't offer much hope for increased revenue for the team, and Wilf can't just get it from his fans. Since his team has struggled to sell tickets the last few seasons, any notable raise in ticket prices would likely be met with anger from an already antsy fanbase.

There's no doubt that the Vikings hope Favre can help them with their stadium hopes. However, they have a lot of work to do if they want to sell any entity of government on helping them with their $1 billion proposal. Outgoing Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has already said the Favre signing won't change anything as far as the team's hopes go.

"I think ... the Vikings are really important to the state of Minnesota," he said. "They bring people a lot of fun and a lot of joy. But we have to set priorities and put first things first.

"And so with the recession and all the budget challenges in the country and that Minnesota is facing, I don't think we could turn to the taxpayers and say, 'Now we need you to pay for a billion-dollar Vikings stadium.' "

While Pawlenty will indeed leave office when his term expires in January 2011, the Vikings can't afford to wait for a new governor. They need to find a way to gain the attention of lawmakers in the 2010 session. If the Favre signing doesn't work out, the Wilf family will need to either put more of their own money into the stadium plan (the current plan is for the Wilf family to fund $250 million, or around one-fourth of the cost), or perhaps look at scaling it back a little.