Fancy new NFL stadiums are becoming a controversial subject because of the exorbitant pricetag and the burden of placing much of the funding on the general public. But just how exorbitant are those exorbitant pricetags? For the new billion dollar Vikings stadium, you have to put it in the context of NASA sending a mission to Pluto.
Yes, Pluto. The underdog of our solar system and the former ninth planet that revolves around our Sun. A tiny mass floating 4.67 billion miles from Planet Earth that is unseeable to the naked eye but has been a curiosity for astronomers and outer space enthusiasts for generations. For humankind to be able to reach Pluto, and send pictures of the former planet back to Earth, is truly one of civilization’s greatest accomplishments. And NASA did just that in 2015 with the New Horizons satellite, completing a nine year journey to NASA.
It’s hard to put the building of a football stadium in Minneapolis in that same breath, but if you went by money alone, the football stadium is a greater investment.
The cost of the new US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis: $1 billion.
The cost of the New Horizons satellite mission: $720 million.
That’s right, it costs almost $300 million more to travel to Pluto than it costs to construct a building where games of professional football are played.
Here’s the video report from CBS Minnesota:
Amazingly, the billion dollar cost for the new Vikings stadium is far from the richest new structure in professional sports. The new Atlanta stadium currently has an estimated cost of $1.5 billion, only $550 million more than it was originally estimated. How does someone spend an extra FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS on any project that doesn’t involve shooting a rocketship out into the farthest reaches of the universe? For that I would understand, but a sports stadium? Yeesh! And then there’s the new Los Angeles stadium that could cost $2.6 billion… two and a half times the cost of the new Vikings stadium.
One year ago, @NASANewHorizons spacecraft made its historic #PlutoFlyby. Take a look: https://t.co/eGXN8bhR7i #TBT pic.twitter.com/KVh8NnyFOd
— NASA (@NASA) July 14, 2016
When we’re talking billions and not millions, it’s understandable why outrage is beginning to build in the general public over these monstrous costs and why some NFL teams are relocating. When you put the dollar amounts in the context of traveling to Pluto, it helps give some frame of reference to numbers that really don’t have one on their own.
Let’s make a deal, from this day forward fans get to vote on where they send their billions – new NFL stadiums or rebuilding our country’s space program. My vote goes to NASA.
