On Sunday, the Lions will play the Vikings in Minnesota … maybe.  Or it could be Monday.  I’d tell you when they’re playing, except nobody actually knows yet.  They have to see if the Twins’ playoff series lasts through Sunday.

Can you believe this is happening in the money-soaked world of professional and major-college sports?

This problem is nothing new in the Twin Cities.  For years, the Vikings (NFL), Twins (MLB) and University of Minnesota (college football) have occupied the same space in the Metrodome.  For much of the year, this causes no problems; only the Twins have games in the spring and early summer.  But then come late summer and early fall, and with that time period comes the struggle to fit multiple teams — more specifically, multiple sports — into one facility.

Really, the conflicts are infrequent; since football games occur only once a week, there are only two potential conflicts each week: college football on Saturday and the NFL on Sunday or Monday.  But when another conflict occurs, it is yet another reminder that two different high-profile sports do not belong in the same facility.

As noted at the beginning of this post, the most recent problem is an NFL/MLB collision.  The Vikings are scheduled to play Sunday at 1 p.m.  But if the Twins/A’s series extends the full five games, the Twins will have priority over the Vikings, and the football game will move to 8:30 p.m. Monday.

To the best of my knowledge, The Twins vs. A’s/Vikings vs. Lions conflict is one of a few issues in the last year.  The previous Saturday, a Twins regular season game included the stipulation that no inning could begin after 3:00 p.m.; any remaining innings would be postponed until Sunday.  The time restriction was instituted so the Metrodome’s grounds crew would have sufficient time to change the baseball field to a football field for the University of Minnesota’s 8:00 p.m. game against Michigan.  Fortunately for the Twins, the game did not run past 3:00.

However, the last time Michigan visited Minnesota, the situation was not so easily resolved.  The Twins were in the playoffs, and as is the case now, they had a potential playoff game on Saturday.  The Twins had priority over the Gophers, and after unsuccessful attempts to make arrangements to play the game on Saturday, the university moved the football game to Friday night — a move I will never condone.

None of these situations should have occurred; it is absurd for two different high-profile sports to share a facility.  The Vikings and Twins both belong to massively popular, extraordinarily wealthy professional sports leagues, while the University of Minnesota belongs to one of the top football conferences in the nation; there is no reason these teams should not have their own facilities.

Fortunately, this situation is on its way to being resolved; both the Twins and UM are working towards separate facilities — in UM’s case, on-campus facilities.  (Finally.)  But, in the meantime, and for any other teams operating under similar circumstances, the homeless home team should make every effort not to reschedule the game, even if it is to its own disadvantage and to the detriment of its home-field advantage.  Facility conflicts are not the fault of the visiting team, and it seems unfair to move the game to another day simply because the home team doesn’t have its own home field.