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Minnesota Vikings
Ahmed Hassan

Costs add up quickly for Vikings fans, who spend hundreds to even thousands on the team each year

A Vikings quarterback holds the ball and prepares to throw.
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray drops back to pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sept. 13 in Minneapolis.
Abbie Parr | AP Photo

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The NFL generates billions of dollars each year — with fans spending hundreds to even thousands of dollars each year on tickets, merch, and travel expenses. Reporter Ahmed Hassan asked Vikings fans at a recent game how much they spend.

Kim and Kelly Neff are siblings from Columbus, Ohio, but they’d argue they’re some of the biggest Vikings fans in the country.

They’ve gone to every home opener since 2009.

“I’ve gone to many away games with the Vikings, I've traveled, I turn it into vacations, so I get the bang for my buck at that point,” Kim said.

And they’ve spent enough money to show their fandom: Kim said she’s spent over $100,000 on the Vikings in her life.

For the first game of the season against the Green Bay Packers, they both say they’ve spent around $4,000 to $5,000. That includes $350 a night on hotels, $550 for flights, $400 each on tickets and more than $1,000 on drinks.

There’s a reason why they do this every year though.

“Our dad,” Kim Neff said. “Unfortunately, we lost him almost two years ago, but it's all we know, and he would have disowned us had we not followed in his footsteps and now he would come and haunt us if we jumped ship, so for us, it's a reminder of my dad now coming back every year.”

But that’s not where their Vikings lore ends -- they’re even part of the Minnesota Vikings Central Ohio Fan Club.

“It just so happens to be five minutes from my house, but they've been live for about 30 years, and they come to a big game every year,” Kim said.

“We do a Christmas party, I mean, we do a party of some kind every week,” Kelly said.

Cindy Kent, Pam Peterson and Julie Plys are all sisters from Duluth who call themselves “The Skol Sisters.” Each of them were dressed in shirts that said “Optimistic since 1961” and they say their tickets cost about $325.

Kent said she spends about $2,000 in a year, but if her family comes, “it’s probably worse than that.”

Peterson said she spends around $1,000, while Plys said she spends less than $500.

“I mean, you gotta buy new gear every year, you gotta go to a game every year,” Peterson said. “I mean, our London, our overseas trip last year, we spent $1,000 on tickets to one game for the overseas.”

They all say the cost doesn’t matter to them as long as they’re together.

“We love each other, we have so much fun, we love to laugh, we love to laugh and cheer, plus the Vikings are awesome,” they all said.

Not everyone spends an arm and a leg on the Vikings though. That’s at least the case for John and Becca Dey.

John said they usually attend one to two games a year with most of their spending going towards parking and food and drinks. He got their tickets as a gift from his boss, which he said were worth more than $200.

“I try to not spend more than $100, I mean that’s a lot of money for me,” he said. “Food and beverage, parking's a lot of it, and it's hard to find a good parking spot.”

He said he spends less than $1,000 a year on the Vikings. Although costs are expensive, they both said their love for the team makes it worth it.

The 3-0 Vikings are back in action Sunday at home against the Miami Dolphins.