The replacement league?

The Vikings still hope to be playing in 2011, but another football team will be entering the Minnesota landscape – the Lingerie Football League. Minnesota was awarded an expansion franchise this week.

There remain questions as to whether the NFL will have a 2011 season, but Minnesota football fans (a term used rather loosely) won’t be left out in the cold in the event that the NFL’s 2011 season gets off to a late start.

The Lingerie Football League announced that it will expand by four teams this fall. The new franchises will be in Minneapolis, Green Bay, Las Vegas and Cleveland, increasing the size of the LFL from 10 to 14 teams. The Minnesota franchise will plays its games at Target Center.

The Minnesota team has yet to be named, but is expected to play in the Western Conference with fellow LFL teams the Green Bay Chill, Chicago Bliss, Seattle Mist and Los Angeles Temptation.

Fans are invited to submit name suggestions starting today by emailing names to [e-mail]. The name submitted most often will be selected. A fan who submits the winning name first will be awarded lifetime season tickets and the chance to host the opening night coin toss Oct. 1.

Open tryouts are going to be scheduled this spring, but no dates have been firmed up yet.

It may not be the kind of football Vikings fans expect or perhaps even want, but it’s better than nothing – if you consider playing football in bra and panties as good clean fun.

FRIDAY NOTES

Tark-a-Mania is running wild. Yesterday, we commented on Fran Tarkenton’s self-produced video calling for the NFL and players to put aside their differences. He reiterated his contention on Sirius Mad Dog Radio, telling host Dino Costa that if he were the intermediary in the work stoppage he could help get a new deal get done “in about two minutes.” Invoking such hot-button issue as the tsunami that struck Japan and the war in the Middle East, Tarkenton said that the NFL is something Americans don’t want to give up. As in his video piece, Tarkenton expounded on his theory that the lawyers for both sides are creating more problems than they are curing, saying that, as in divorce cases, they don’t bring people together. Tarkenton maintains he isn’t on the side of either of the combatants, saying he’s on the side of the fans, not the owners or players.

The repair of the Metrodome roof will begin in earnest today following the arrival of the new roof panels for replacement. The plan is to have the roof completed by mid-July – in time for the Vikings preseason games, if they come off as scheduled.

The Vikings are scheduled to work out Cam Newton at the Auburn campus Wednesday, according to ESPN. Newton is scheduled to work out with Miami Sunday at the Auburn campus and visit Buffalo for a workout on Monday. After meeting with the Vikings, Newton is scheduled to work out for Cincinnati.

Texas Christian quarterback Andy Dalton has lined up visits with 12 teams, including the Vikings, over the next two weeks, the QB said in an interview with NFL Network on Thursday.

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John Holler has been writing about the Vikings for more than a decade for Viking Update. Follow Viking Update on Twitter and discuss this topic on our message boards. To become a subscriber to the Viking Update web site or magazine, click here.

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