Vikings' purchase bid by LV woman lacking

Say this about the sale of the Minnesota Vikings NFL football team: It's been a lot more entertaining than the team's four Super Bowl losses.

A few weeks after author Tom Clancy's much publicized $200 million bid turned out not to be worth the paper one of his paperbacks is printed on, the team confirmed Tuesday that it has recieved an offer from a reported Las Vegas real estate magnate with ambitious plans to eventually move the Purple People Eaters to Glitter Gulch.

Just how earnest the $180 million offer by Shruti Misra is remains to be seen, however.

John W. Mooty, the legal counsel representing 10 major and three limited partners in the Vikings' sale, said the 31-year-old Misra's offer of $50 million in cash and another $130 million to be financed through a loan provided by a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based firm called U.S. Guarantee Corp. did not meet the group's requirements to be considered an official bid for the team.

"We did receive a document (from Misra)," Mooty said. "But that document is not in conformity with the requirements needed to make an official bid. Until we get a document that does conform, we do not treat it as a bid."

"There are a lot of people who talk about doing things like this, and who want to do things like this, and who think about doing things like this," Wheelock Whitney, one of the Vikings owners, said. "But when it comes down to the actual commitment, they back off."

The reported offer by the mysterious Misra, described in some published reports as a real estate magnate with holdings in Nevada, California and New Mexico, seems to have a number of flaws.

* Misra, whose net worth is unknown and has been unavailable for comment, did not provide the due diligence providing the key financial information needed to see if she is indeed a serious buyer. After Clancy's embarrassing fiasco, that is a must for any potential buyer.

"They need to give us a full list of investors," Mooty said.

* Attempts by the Sun to reach U.S. Guarantee Corp. in Scottsdale for comment were unsuccessful, because there is no such company listed with a phone number in Scottsdale or the greater Phoenix metro area.

* An anonymous representative claiming to represent Misra was quoted as saying she planned to eventually move the team from Minnesota to Las Vegas. That's a big no-no with the current Vikings owners and NFL owners who want the team to remain in the nation's No. 14 media market.

"It's very important (the Vikings remain in Minnesota) for a number of reasons," Mooty said.

"The current owners have strong ties to the area and want to keep the team here. There's also a 14-year lease left with the Metrodome and they have indicated they'd file an injunction if someone tried to break it. And the league has made it clear that it has a strong desire to keep the team here.

"Anyone buying the team with the intent of moving it would face a lot of obstacles."

Mooty, who admitted he was surprised by Misra's offer, said he "doesn't know this person or her background. Until we get something that corforms with our guidelines, we don't need to pursue it. We've got enough people interested in buying the team that have already met those guidelines."

The owners have set a July 1 deadline to accept bids. The frontrunner to buy the team is believed to be Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, who is worth about $1.5 billion and is based out of Mankato, Minn., about 60 miles southwest of the Twin Cities. San Antonio businessman Red McCombs, Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad and New Jersey businessman J. Bruce Llewellyn, a cousin of Gen. Colin Powell, also have expressed strong interest.

Only time will tell just how serious Misra's bid is.

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